Mischief Managed
by Bonwee
Summary: Nora was normal, no, not normal, she was a troublemaker who knew she was weird. She got a letter. She got a mission. She got a family. Along the way she found friends and her family. The Weasley twins adore her and her rapscallion ways. She's a troublemaker with a heart of gold. Please review! Bugs fixed. Recently updated!
1. Philosopher's Stone part 1

Book One

Prologue:

_Sirius Black had tears streaming down his face as he stood outside the orphanage. He didn't have anywhere else to take his sleeping daughter. Remus was in no fit state to take care of her. The Blacks certainly wouldn't take him, not that it was even considered after what his family had just done. The Potters were gone. Harry was being sent to Lily's sister. The little girl's mother was gone, too. It amazed Black that his heart could still beat even though it was shattered. Even now, the idea of leaving his own child at this sad looking little house in the middle of nowhere made his heart crumble even more. His daughter stirred in her blanket made out of his dragon hide jacket. He watched her squirm and then yawn and look at him. Her violet eyes had been marred by the curse. She now had one black one that looked too much like Bellatrix to be coincidence. There were no lights on in the orphanage so Sirius had as much time as he wanted. He knew that he would be blamed for the Potters' death. He had to find Peter and beat him into confessing he had turned on his oldest friends. Sirius clutched his child to his chest. She didn't fuss, she never did. He thought about how happy she had been with Harry and wished he could take her to where they would be closer and could grow up together like they were supposed to have. He took one step closer to the house's porch. A light turned on automatically when he came into sight of the sensor. That caused a light in an upstairs window to turn on. He heard movement and quickly walked up the steps. His daughter started to cry when he went to set her down on the porch. The door opened and the Headmistress was tying her robe. He wiped away his tear and handed his daughter to her. "She will be a handful, if it is ever safe for me to come back and get her, I will. Her name is Renora Lily Black. Tell her I love her." His daughter screamed for him but he backed down the steps and ran off into the darkness. The Headmistress looked at the little girl still crying for her father and tried to calm her. What the woman couldn't see was that just outside the halo of light, a large black dog sat whimpering. When the child would not stop, the headmistress took her inside all the same. The door shut with a quiet click and then the dog padded away down the road. _

10 years later.

The day I got my letter, I was sitting in a tree outside the orphanage reading a book about how to fix cars with household items. The grey owl came swooping in almost knocked me off the branch I was perched on. With a screech and flutter of wings, a letter was dropped in my lap. I watched the owl fly away and then opened the thick letter written in bottle green ink.

Miss Renora Lily Black,

It is my distinct honor to inform you that you are, in fact, a witch! Congratulations! You have been accepted into Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The rest of that page was full of school supplies I would need. I didn't know how I would pay for all this, or even if this was a real school. One thing I knew for sure was that I was a witch. It was the only way to explain the things that had been happening lately.

Today was the adoption day this month. Last month the prospective parents had come in and seen my eyes- one violet, the other black-and called them 'absolutely unnerving and unsettling'. I glared at the pompous woman and made her fur coat come alive and attack her husband. The other kids thought it was hilarious. The headmistress of the orphanage had sent me to the basement and kept me away from the other children since that day.

I continued reading the letter, it went on to talk about how my parents had both been incredibly intelligent. I wish it had added their names. It also mentioned a boy that I would be meeting soon, a boy named Harry Potter who I was supposed to look out for. He and I shared a bond that no one knew of: we had both survived death.

I didn't think that I had ever been cursed. I certainly didn't think that I had survived the "killing curse". The letter supported this claim by telling me about the scar I had always wondered about; the crescent moon scar on my left shoulder blade like something had grazed me when I was very young. I reached for it and brushed my fingers against the soft deformation.

The letter was concluded by telling me that someone would be at the orphanage to collect me on August first. I should have been worried about it being a scam. I should have been worried that I was going to be abducted by sex traffickers or sold into slavery. My eleven-year old brain should have been worried and disbelieving about the news I had just received, but I was counting the days.

"Nora!" Nathan yelled. I looked up and dropped out of the tree.

"What?" I tucked the letter in the back pocket of my hand-me-down pants and walked to the porch.

"Headmistress wants to see you."

I climbed up and over the railing. "Office?"

"Office." Nathan gave me a half smiled. "She didn't seem mad? That's good." I shrugged and put my hand on my shoulder.

"That is very good or very bad, start the betting pool for how much longer I'll be here." He smiled.

"I'll start passing out the slips." I ruffled his hair and walked into the office.

I dropped into the heavy wooden chair across the desk from the owner of the orphanage.

"Nora, I have received a letter."

"As have I." I didn't take the letter out of my pocket.

"You have a party interested in adopting you. And to give amble time to make the arrangements, he will not be here until early on August the first." I nodded. "Don't muck it up, Nora." She pinched the bridge of her nose.

"I don't know whatever you mean. I have been good."

"That's what I'm afraid of. Whenever you're on your best behavior it's because you're scheming something big."

"Not always, there was that one time I had the flu." She laughed and shook her head.

"I'll call you back in when I get more details about your new guardian." I stood up and walked out. I got outside and did a victory dance. I turned to see the kids all looking out of the windows. I waved and they all laughed.

At dinner, the little kids kept bugging me to play the piano after we ate and I looked at the headmistress. She nodded and we all ate and cleaned up quickly to go into the front room.

I was pushed to the old upright piano and I sat down, flipping the tail of my jacket out like a suit jacket. "Requests?" A hundred songs where shouted at me. "Alright, we'll work through that set list." I popped my knuckles and started pounding out the music I knew. The kids started dancing around and laughing and I couldn't stop smiling. I would miss this but I knew that someday if I was lucky I'd get adopted.

* * *

On the eve of July 31, the headmistress of the orphanage sat me down in her office and looked me straight in the eyes.

"I've made a lot of sacrifices for you, Renora." I wouldn't dare correct her about my name now. "Like the fact that I am letting a man I've never met adopt you. We have corresponded through your new headmaster and he has instructed me that you are to leave with a man named Rubius Hagrid and that he will be your legal guardian from now on." I nodded. Headmaster Dumbledore had sent me a few letters throughout the summer telling me about my new caregiver.

"You are a good girl. I can see how kind you are to everyone, especially the people whom others look over…"

"But?"

"But, you also cause mischief, can be a trouble maker, and do not keep a tight enough hold on your tongue." I nodded. "You have a great chance at this new school, you can change your ways. You will have a real family now, my dear, do not mess that up." I looked over at the severe looking woman with her wiry gray hair pulled back into a tight bun, she had true kindness and sincerity in her eyes as she gave me that advice.

"I won't."

The next morning I was up before dawn, pacing in my little room in the basement. I had packed all my things into a beat up suitcase the headmistress had found for me. I made my bed and watched the sun rise through my window. I was so ready to go that I drug the suitcase up the stairs and sat in the front room and played the piano. It was how I dealt with things; fear, anger, nerves. In the beginning, the children weren't supposed to play, but after I had been rejected for the first time by a set of prospective parents, I sat down and started playing. The headmistress came in to scold me. I glared at her and she sat down in the chair and listened to me play. After about an hour, I stood up, and walked out of the room. She never bothered me when I needed to play. I played a soft lullaby of my own invention. If sheets of music were set in front of me, I wouldn't have the slightest idea how to read it. I never wrote down my compositions, much to the headmistress's dismay.

She walked in, silently, and sat on the edge of the bench and played in harmony with me. When I was done, there was knock at the door.

"That'll be Mr. Hagrid." She walked in, there was a hushed conversation. I stood by my things and waited to meet my new guardian. A hulking man stood before me. His beard and hair were thick and only added to his hugeness.

"Hello, Mr. Hagrid." I said with a smile. He had a kindness in his eyes that let me trust him.

He chortled, "No need to call me 'Mister'. I'm Rubius Hagrid." He was nervous, I held my hand out to shake it but thought better of it. I hugged him, my arms not even going around half of him.

"I'm Nora, Nora Black, it's a pleasure to meet you, Hagrid." He smiled at me, not even shocked when I looked him in the eyes with my mismatched ones. He picked up my case, it looked like a doll's case compared to him. We walked out, he had a motorbike with a side car. As he jostled the case into the sidecar, the headmistress hugged me. I looked up at the place I'd lived for eleven years. In the windows, children peeked out, watching me leave. I had made friends, but after my magic manifested itself, I was alienated, a freak. I waved and got in the side car. Hagrid put on a pair of goggles and handed me a pair. I pulled them on and looked at him.

"Ready to go?" I nodded. We took off with a shudder and jerk, flying down the road. When we were out of sight of the orphanage, Hagrid told me to hold on. He pressed a button and the bike soared up into the sky. I held onto the sidecar and laughed with delight. We sped through the sky, over towns and fields.

"Can't they see us?" I pointed to the little people on the ground.

"Muggles? They don't see anything," he pointed to another button on the bike. "Invisibility charm."

"Cool." I held up my hands and let the wind rush past me.

This was freedom.

We landed on a street in London. Hagrid pulled my case out and carried it for me.

"You're going to meet Harry. He's been here," he pointed at a tavern sign, 'The Leaky Cauldron'. "Since yesterday, bloody horrible family, had to give the son a pig tail." I looked up at him in alarm. "I should not have said that." He opened the door for me.

"Hagrid!" A boy my age stood up from where he was sitting at a table. He had round glasses and a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead that I knew all about. I hugged him, and he was shocked.

"Hello Harry, I'm Nora." He readjusted his glasses.

"Hello, you must be the girl Hagrid was telling me about." I glanced up at the scar on his forehead, it looked like the one on my shoulder.

"Well, glad to see you two have been introduced. Who wants to go shopping?" Hagrid clapped his hands together and rubbed them.

"How am I supposed to pay for them?" Harry and I said together.

"Gringotts bank of course!"

"But Hagrid," I said, "I don't have any money."

"Well, I may not be a rich man, but I think I have enough to get your school things, I am your guardian now." I smiled at him. He seemed to be proud that he now had to look out for me.

We three went into a large, lopsided bank. Where there would normally be tellers, there were dreadful looking creatures with pointed ears and wiry hair. I leaned over to Harry and asked him what they were.

He shrugged, just as surprised as I was. "Hagrid, what are those things?"

"Those are goblins, wicked little devils," Hagrid walked up to one of them and cleared his throat. "Harry Potter needs to make a withdrawal from his vault." The mean looking goblin looked up from his paper.

"Does _Mr. Potter_ have his key?" Hagrid patted around on his coat.

"Here it is, and this is from Dumbledore regarding _you-know-what_ in vault _you-know-which_." He handed the goblin the letter and we were led to a door that opened into a massive cavern lined with what looked like roller coaster tracks. The goblin made us pile into a cart and we took off through the cave, guided by the light of a single lantern. We were swooping around and turning upside down. I giggled. I felt like it wasn't the proper time to throw my arms up in the air, and it also seemed like a bad idea considering I could have them cut off. We came to a sudden stop. I, out of instinct, put my hand out to stop Harry from flying forward. We all clambered out of the cart and the goblin opened the vault. Inside was more gold coins then I'd ever seen in my life. Harry's mouth was hanging open.

"Didn't think that your parents would leave you with nothing, did you?" Hagrid said, handing Harry a pouch to put some money in. We were all piled into the cart again and the next vault Hagrid told Harry and I to stay seated. He walked in and grabbed a little parcel. He put the paper wrapped object in his breast pocket. "Are you two ready to go shopping?" We both nodded.

As we walked down Diagon Alley, Harry read all the supplies that we would need. Hagrid pointed out the shops were we could get some of the standard staples: quills, parchment, robes. He had to run a few errands. He handed me a bag with coins in it.

"Thanks, Hagrid." Harry and I ran off into the shops.

After we had bought the basics, pewter cauldron, feather quills, and parchment, Hagrid met us outside the wand shop, Olivander's. He snapped his fingers.

"There's one thing I forgot to pick up, you two go on in and get your wands." He hustled away down the street. I grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him into the wand shop. There were shelves upon shelves of boxes filled with what I could only imagine were wands of every size and shape.

"Hello there, you two young people here to get your wands?"

We nodded.

"Ladies first, then,"

"I'm Nora Black," I said, shaking the old man's hand.

"Black? That's impossible." He mumbled, holding my hand longer than was normal and searched my eyes for something. He shook his head and dropped my hand. "I think I have one here that will work very well for you." He shuffled around a few boxes and pulled out a few dusty ones. I plucked a plain black wand out and pointed it at the floor. It shot a series of multi-colored flames and I dropped it. "Not that one." He said softly. I put it back in the box and I got the next one, a pale wand with a spiral handle. That one caused the ladders in the shop to slide wildly along their tracks. I dropped that one back in the box hastily. The last wand was a rich mahogany color with rings of gold down the length. I really liked this one and hoped it worked. I gingerly picked it up, nothing happened. I looked up at the wand maker. "Well, give it a wave." Harry prepared himself for an explosion. I waved and a chorus of soft whispers floated through the air, blowing my hair backwards. "Very interesting." I paid him for my wand. He told me it was made from two types of rare wood with a core of thestral hair. I looked at him. He was reluctant to say more. I sat on the dilapidated couch and watched Harry have the same luck I did. He busted a vase of flowers, and caused the drawers to fly out of a cabinet. Finally, Olivander handed him a wand that illuminated where he was standing and blew his hair around wildly.

"Woah," I smiled at him.

"That wand has only one twin in the entire world, the man who gave you that scar owns the other." I looked at Harry. He was shocked. "You will do great things with that wand, Mr. Potter. As did that owner of the other wand-they were terrible, but great things." Hagrid knocked on the window.

"Harry! Happy Birthday!" He held up a cage with a snowy white owl in it. We both ran out and admired the bird. "Nora, I didn't know if you wanted a pet to take to Hogwarts." I shook my head.

"No thank you, you've already done so much." I wanted to show him my wand, but there was a commotion down the street. We all looked and saw a pair of red headed twins running out of the book store. They were laughing and I knew they had caused the trouble. Purple smoke billowed out of the store, the people running out where all dyed purple. I laughed and the two boys looked at me, stopping in their tracks. I ran up to them.

"How did you do that?" I pointed at the purple people coughing and searching for the boys. They pulled me behind a cart of flowers.

"Why do you want to know?" They said in unison.

"Because it was magnificent." They smiled at each other.

"Are you going to Hogwarts?" I nodded, "We'll tell you when we see you next." They gave each other a wicked smile and continued running down the street. Hagrid called my name and I couldn't help but laugh. I loved pranks. Harry was trying to cover up his laughter. The people looked ridiculous, all powdered with purple. We took our supplies back to The Leaky Cauldron. I kept looking at my wand.

During a lull in the conversation at dinner, I asked Hagrid what he did at Hogwarts.

"Grounds and Game keeper." I nodded. "I also do enjoy raising animals."

"Do you raise thestrals?" Hagrid dropped his spoon and slashed his stew into his beard.

"What do you want to know about those for?" I sat my wand on the table.

"It has thestral hair in it, and the wand maker wouldn't tell me what was special about it."

"It's a kind beast that lives in the dark forest, that's all you need to know." I felt more unsettled the less people would tell me about my wand.

I looked at Harry, "So are you excited about starting at Hogwarts?" He nodded animatedly.

"Oh yeah, I think anywhere is better than back where I lived; my aunt and uncle and cousin are absolutely horrid." I nodded.

"Me too," I saw that there was a piano in the corner. "If you'll excuse me." I looked over at the lonely man sitting at a table in the opposite darkened corner on my way to sit at the instrument. I think Hagrid introduced him as a professor at Hogwarts, Professor Squirrel… no, Quirrell."Sir?" He looked up at me, he'd been talking to himself.

"W-w-what do you n-n-need?" I tilted my head a little, a smile on my face.

"I was just wondering if you were okay, you were sitting over here all alone. I'm sure you're welcome to join Hagrid, Harry, and I." He shook his head.

"N-no need, young l-l-lady, I'm waiting on someone to meet me." He readjusted his turban and turned away.

"Okay, if you say so. Have a good night." I walked over to the piano and sat down. There weren't very many people in the room. I started playing an upbeat tune with a bouncing tempo. I hummed nonsense lyrics to go with it. Harry and Hagrid came closer to watch me. A young man in the pub grabbed a guitar and started playing. Others clapped to continue the beat. I laughed and picked up the speed. The people sitting at the bar tapped their tankards to add to the music. Professor Quirrell stood and left. I ended the song with a drawn out chord and the young man playing the guitar smiled.

"You're bloody brilliant, want to play another song?" I looked around, everyone was watching me, my heart thudded in my chest, but it was a good feeling. Harry nodded at me with a smile. Hagrid did the same.

"Thanks, but maybe you should take the lead this time?" The boy smiled, he had slightly crooked teeth and sandy hair.

He started with a mellow speed, he started singing a song about his childhood follies even though he was a child himself. I interjected with simple chords as to not over power his nice voice. He played quietly while he let me solo, I sang the chorus to myself.

The boy and I kept playing for most of the night, somewhere along the way we gained a girl singer and a boy playing the clarinet. We had people dancing and laughing. I felt good about making people that happy. Hagrid finally told me that Harry and I needed to be getting to bed. I waved at the people who had joined in our music making. The boy smiled at me and bowed, never taking his eyes off mine. It made my heart flutter.

* * *

"Let me take you two out on the town," Sawyer, the sandy haired boy with the guitar, said. We had become friends over the last few weeks. Harry looked over at me, my mouth was full of oatmeal. I blushed and swallowed before I spoke.

"I don't know, we're leaving for school tomorrow." Sawyer was a young wizard who wasn't going to Hogwarts. He went to Muggle School and hung out at Diagon Alley because his parents owned a magical antique store.

"Come on, you'll love it. How many times does someone get to hang out with _the_ Harry Potter." I rolled my eyes, even though I now knew my friend was a huge deal in the magical world.

"Fine, but just for a little bit." There was a ruckus in the upstairs part of the tavern. The two red headed boys from a few weeks ago came running out. One had an apple and the other was holding a scrawny rat. A younger boy ran after them, yelling for them to give him back his rat.

"Great, hurry up and eat," the twins jumped over a table and laughed. I smirked at them when they looked my way.

* * *

Harry, Hagrid, and I were all making our way through King's Cross Station. Hedwig cooed softly as I helped Harry get his trolley down the steps. Hagrid just heaved mine up and carried it down to the platform. He handed us our tickets, and said something about getting the special package he'd gotten at Gringotts to Dumbledore. Harry and I read the tickets and when we looked up, the immense man was gone.

"Platform nine and three quarters?" Harry asked me.

"Maybe we should try nine and ten? Or ask a conductor." We pushed our luggage up to the man in a conductor's uniform.

"Hello, sir, can you help me find platform nine and three quarters?" The man looked funnily at me.

"Think you're being witty, girl?" I shook my head, "Get lost." I turned and saw a flash of bright red heads rush past.

"Packed with Muggles like always." I pulled Harry after the woman who said this, she must be a witch. She had her first son run at the brick pillar between platforms nine and ten. He disappeared when he should have slammed into the wall.

"Excuse me, ma'am, how do I get to platform nine and three-quarters?" Harry asked the kind woman, and she smiled.

"First time, dearies?" She looked at both of us, and she wasn't fazed by my eyes. "Don't worry, its Ron's first time, too." I looked at the young boy with the rat from the tavern. The two red headed twins were there. They grinned at me.  
"Go along Fred," one of the twins queued up to run.

"I'm not Fred, he is! Really woman and you call yourself our mother." He scolded her light heartedly.

"Oh, sorry George, hurry along."

"I'm only kidding; I am Fred." He ran onto the platform. George nudged me and I shook my head, smiling. George ran after his brother. I made sure Harry got through and had time to move out of the way before I went.

We put our luggage with the other students' making sure we had our robes in our bags to change into on the train.

I smiled at everyone I passed. I would be spending the next seven years with them, might as well make a good impression. Harry and I found an empty place to sit. The train chugged along for a little while, I watched London slip past us. Harry was telling me about his summer, he'd released a python at the zoo. I laughed.

"That's awesome, how'd you do it?"

"I just talked to the snake. It understood what I was saying. My cousin Dudley ran over and started hitting the glass and pressed up against it after he pushed me out of the way. Then poof, the glass was gone, Dudley fell in, the snake came out and the glass was back in place."

"Wow, you're weird." I said jokingly.

"Where'd you learn to play the piano?"

"Where'd you learn to talk to snakes?"

"You first."

"I can just do it, some things just comes naturally to me. I taught myself to read, write, stuff like that. I'm pretty handy to have around actually. But you, snake boy, I think that it's not common for people to be holding conversations with reptiles."

"I just talked to it, normally."

"That's cool." Ron Weasley, the boy with the rat, knocked on the door.

"May I?" He gestured to the empty seat with his rat's cage. "Everywhere else is full."

"Sure!" I grabbed my bag and put it above my seat.

"I don't believe we've been formally introduced, I'm Nora Black, and this is Harry Potter." Ron's eyes grew wide.

"_The _Harry Potter?"

"Yeah," Harry said self-consciously.

"Do you have the… the…" he drew a lightning bolt on his forehead.

"The scar? Yeah." He pushed up his hair with a smile.

"Cool." Ron glanced over at me and then quickly away.

"What?" I asked him.

"Your eyes."

"Oh, yeah, it's called heterochromia, if you're interested. A lot of people think it's freaky."

"It's cool, but weird." I pulled one of my legs up to rest my chin on my knee.

"Are your brothers always troublemakers?"

"Fred and George? Yeah, they are bloody menaces. Smart, but neither of them made top boy on account of their discipline record." The sweets trolley rang up outside our door.

"Anything sweet for you three?" Ron held up a mangled ball of sandwich.

"No, I'm good." I gave Harry a very pointed look.

He looked over at the sad red head. I could tell he wasn't from a wealthy family.

"We'll take the lot of it." Ron's head snapped up in disbelief at the handful of gold galleons Harry pulled out of his pocket.

The sweet trolley lady piled candy all around us. I opened a box of jelly beans.

"Better be careful which one's you pick of those." Ron said through a mouth full of licorice.

"Bertie Botts Every-Flavor Beans?"

"There's mint and chocolate, but also ear wax and cod." I picked one out and tried it and gagged. I opened the window and tossed the offensive sweet out.

"Liver." I put the rest of the box of beans into my bag for later. I dug through the mounds of candy. "What are these?" I held up a packet that had chocolate flies in it.

"Just what they say, hexed chocolate flies with different fillings." I opened the bag and quickly grabbed one, closing the bag as to not let any more escape. I popped it in my mouth. It had a nougat center.

"Chocolate frogs?" Harry looked up from the pretty purple box. "It's not a… real frog, is it?"

"Nah, it's just a charm." I watched Harry pull the wire to open the box, inside was a beautiful frog shaped chocolate. It ribbited and jumped out of the box and then jumped once more out the window.

"Sorry Harry, I'll get you another one."

"What a waste, they only have one good hop in them to begin with, but it's the card you want." Harry pulled the card out of the bottom.

"Albus Dumbledore," Harry moved the card, I looked over. It was a really cool 3-D card of a white bearded man. I finally got to put a face with the letters I'd received.

"That's cool," I touched the picture, it was flat. I looked at Ron.

"I have about six of him." I grabbed a chocolate frog and opened it carefully. I caught the frog mid-leap and handed it to Harry.

"Thanks." He bit the frog after it stopped moving. I looked at my card.

"Who's this?" I handed the card with the wild looking man on the front.

"Bloody hell, that's 'Mad-Eye' Moody!"

"If it's that exciting, you can have it. I don't collect cards." The ginger haired boy's eyes grew wide.

"Really?" I nodded.

"Yeah, of course, I don't want it, keep it."

"Thanks, Nora." I smiled.

"I think I need to go change into my robes." I grabbed my bag and went to the loo.

When I came back, Harry and Ron were changed too.

"Harry! Your glasses are fixed!" He smiled.

"Yeah, some girl came round asking if we'd seen a toad, fixed my glasses, and told Ron he had dirt on his nose."

"I always miss the good stuff, dangit." Ron was trying to rub the smudge of black off. I licked my thumb and cleaned it.

"That's gross."

"But now you're clean." He grimaced and I sat down next to Harry.

We unloaded from the train and Hagrid was there to greet us. I introduced Ron. A bushy brown haired girl ran up to us,

"I see you took care of the dirt." I raised an eyebrow at her tone. "I'm Hermione Granger." I smiled at her.

"I'm Nora." We were herded to a series of enchanted boats that took off across the water when we sat down. Everything was happening so quickly, it made my head spin.

Harry and I just smiled at each other when we first laid eyes on the place we would both call home. The pack of first years all ran excitedly into the school. A woman in green robes and hat stepped up.

"I am Professor McGonagall, head of Gryffindor House. In just a moment I will lead you through these doors and you will be sorted into your houses." She nodded to us and left us to chatter excitedly. A round faced boy bumped into me.

"Sorry," he said, searching the ground.

"What are you looking for?" I asked, looking around. Harry and Ron were talking to each other.

"My toad, Trevor, he's about ye big, red-ish brown." He gestured with his hands.

"I'll help you look," he looked at me and I smiled big, like I always do.

We searched around the steps. Professor McGonagall came back and I saw the toad by her feet. I bumped the boy and pointed. He ran up saying, "Trevor!" The professor stopped what she was saying and gave him a withering look as he slunk back to stand with me.

"I'm Nora, by the way," I ran my finger down Trevor's back.

"Neville," he gave me a crooked toothed smile.

I'll always remember that first time I walked into the Great Hall. The candles levitating, the charmed ceiling that looked like the night sky. Too soon I was stopped and told to wait to be sorted by a manky old hat. I had stopped near the end of the table. Someone pulled my robe and I looked at them. The two lanky Weasley twins were grinning at me, both wearing their pointed black hats. I smiled at them.

"… And Mr. Flich has asked me to remind you to stay away from the third floor corridor on the left side unless you wish to die a long and agonizing death. I believe it is time for the sorting to commence." The woman from before held up the hat and unrolled a piece of parchment.

Reading the first name on the list she said, "Renora Black." I felt the twins push me from their seats and I made my way through the crowd. Without hesitation I stepped up to the stool and sat, looking out over the people whose eyes were locked on me. The hat came to life, murmuring in my ear.

"Black… it has been quite a while since I had one of you." I squared my shoulders. "I could put you in Slytherin, you could find out about you family tree…" I shook my head. Hagrid had told me about the four houses at Hogwarts. I wanted to be put into Gryffindor. "Or you could learn about your parents, oh yes, you want that. Decisions, decisions." The hat hmmed and haaaaed.

"Please." I said quietly.

"That's it. GRYFFINDOR!" I looked back at Hagrid, he was grinning like mad. I hopped off the stool and sat next to the twins.

"Welcome to the club, Nora Black." George said with a wink. I was introduced to Percy, Ron and the twins' older brother, a prefect.

"Hi, it's a pleasure to meet you." I smiled as I said it.

"Hello," the older boy smiled in spite of himself. I'd been told my smiles were infectious; that's why I smile all the time. I like seeing other people smile. I clapped for everyone who got sorted, but it was a bit quieter when the person was sorted into Slytherin. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville all got sorted into Gryffindor. Dumbledore congratulated us and told us to enjoy ourselves. Before my eyes the table filled with every type of food imaginable. I filled my plate with treats I never could have dreamed of and scarfed it down just as fast.

We were dismissed to go to our dormitories after we had finished eating. I stayed close to Harry, but talked to Neville about his toad. We stopped on the steps. The Weasley twins swooped in and laced their arms through mine, escorting me into the common room of the Gryffindor house.

They spoke together, "You're gonna love it here, Nora Black, we'll make sure of that." With a wicked grin, the two boys released me and went to talk to their friends. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I looked around at all the pictures and relics lining the walls.

I bumped into a boy who was a few years older than me, "Oh, sorry I hit you." He grinned at me.

"Oh, it's fine," the friend he was talking to was called to someone else. "I'm Oliver Wood, most people just call me Wood." I smiled and shook his hand.

"I'm Nora Black, but everyone calls me Nora." I said with a sassy smirk. He laughed.

"Aren't you a little spit fire?" I nodded.

"Sure to raise some hell with us two as friends." The twins were back, leaning on my shoulders.

"Oh boy, Nora, you've fallen in with this lot, whatever will we do with you?" Wood grinned and shook his head.

"Old Wood here is a fifth-year captain of the Quidditch team."

"And these two are the finest beaters this school has seen in years. They're practically human bludgers." I shrugged off the arms of the older boys.

"I really should be unpacking, big day tomorrow." They all wished me a good night.

I loved this school already.

The next day, I started classes. Harry, Ron, and I ran in to Professor McGonagall's transfiguration class late.

I sat down in the back next to Neville and sighed because the severe looking woman was nowhere to be seen.

Everyone was already writing down something on their parchment. I groaned, the teacher was in her cat form on her desk. She leapt off and transformed into a human.

"I'm glad to see that you three could join us." She looked at the two boys and then over at me. I shrugged. We had gotten lost on the way to class because the stairs changed when we were halfway down them. I asked Neville what the assignment was and started scratching it out on the paper.

Later that day, I ran to potions. When I slid into my seat, I was next to a brown haired boy. I smiled, "Hi, I'm Nora." His accent was thick when he spoke,

"Hello, the name's Seamus." The professor walked in, slamming the door. He had long black hair to match with his black robes.

"Quiet, students." He went on a long spiel about what we would learn from this class and how it would benefit our lives, I was only half listening. I noticed Professor Snape glare at Harry as he took down some notes.

I don't normally notice people or see what they're trying to hide. Since I got to school I'd been looking for things to notice about people. I noticed the glint of remorse in Snape's eyes when Harry looked up. The more I watched him, the more I saw the deep pain that was inside him. He'd obviously lost someone close to him. It was either that or he was honestly a really foul git. I'd tuned out what was going on around me until Seamus jabbed me in the ribs to bring me back.

"Do you know how to make the potion?" He whispered, putting his cauldron in front of him. I did the same. I opened my potions book and sighed. I didn't know how to do this. We were making a potion to heal mild burns. I skimmed over the directions and went about throwing stuff in the caldron. I was not particularly following the directions. I just knew what to do. It is how I've always been, everything came easy to me. Snape came over to scold me when I told him I was done before anyone else was even done gathering supplies. Seamus looked over in shock at me.

"Professor, I think I'm done." Snape looked over at my cauldron, the softly bubbling liquid was the correct shade of sea foam with pieces of the herb suspended throughout.

"Miss Black," he said my name with a hint of distaste. "I-" he looked at Seamus, reaching to keep him from adding too much fire-eater powder to his cauldron.

Neither of us were able to stop him, his potion blew up and splattered all over us two first years. I looked over at Seamus, his hair was plastered straight up and his face was covered in green goo. I failed in trying to hold in my laughter, it just came bubbling out. Seamus looked at me and started laughing, too.

"Clean this up, now." Snape ordered, shaking off some of the goop from his sleeve. I waited until Snape had his back turned and pulled out my wand, winking at my partner. I closed my eyes and waved my wand in small circles. The goo floated up and started spinning in a mini tornado. I guided it back into Seamus's cauldron. His eyes were wide. I pressed a finger against my lips and shook my head.

"Our secret," I smiled at him. He nodded.

"Black, stay after class, I need to have a word with you," Snape said without looking at me.

After class, I waved Harry, Ron, and Seamus goodbye and walked up to where the professor was sitting. "Yes, sir?" I had my bag slung over one arm and messed with a loose thread on my robe sleeve.

"You were raised in a non-magical house, were you not?"

I nodded, "An orphanage, yeah."

"Where did you learn to make potions then?"

"I don't know." I answered truthfully.

"Don't lie to me."

"It just comes naturally to me, everything does."

"Really…" he drifted off as he finished the sentence he was writing. "Like thinking you can use magic in my classroom without my knowledge?" I frowned.

"It was quicker than trying to use a rag."

"How did you learn that spell?"

"I didn't learn any spells, professor."

"Stop lying." He said with anger edging into his voice.

"I'm not lying to you!" I dropped my bag with a thud. "I really do just know what to do, is that so hard to believe?"

"Yes." His gaze pierced mine.

"You were in love with Harry's mother." I said, shocked at the revelation and the fact I had said it out loud.

"What?!" He slammed his hands down on his table and stood up.

"I'm sorry, I don't know why I said that." I backed away from him.

He looked like he was about to kill me, "Get out." I grabbed my bag and ran out of the classroom. I ran into Professor Dumbledore in my haste.

"Sorry!" I tried to get around him before he could see the tears welling up in my eyes. I hadn't ever been able to read people like that before I came here. I don't know what was going on. The weird part was that I didn't think it was bizarre, and it had happened as easily as breathing.

He grasped my shoulder and I looked up at him, using the sleeve of my robes to dab my eyes. "Walk with me, my dear, I think we need to talk." He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to me. I wiped my nose once more. We walked up to a statue in an alcove. "Sherbet Lemon." The Griffon spun around and a stair case started to spin upwards. I stepped up and rode the steps to Dumbledore's office. "Why were you crying, Miss Black?" I looked around his amazing office filled with various knick-knacks and artifacts.

"I was sad, when people are sad, they cry." I didn't want to tell him, it was Snape's secret, not mine to tell.

"You saw into his heart, didn't you?" I sat down in a chair. I saw a beautiful red bird ruffle its feathers. I watched it watch me.

"Maybe," I didn't meet his eyes.

"Why are you protecting a man who just yelled at you?"

"Because his heart is broken."

"_Is? _Present tense?" Dumbledore sounded surprised. I stood up and reached to stroke the bird, I made sure that it had given me permission before touching its scarlet feathers.

"Yes." I didn't need to explain my answer to him.

"Why do you think that?"

"Harry has his mother's eyes."

"And?"

"And it reminds Snape every time that he sees Harry that he lost the girl he loved more than anything twice." I smiled as the bird brushed against my face.

"Twice?" I looked over at the elderly headmaster.

"Yeah, once when she married Harry's father, and then again when she was killed by Voldemort."

"You are certainly much more gifted than I had thought."

"Good." I ran my hand over a framed picture, a man with unruly black hair stood with another boy, both wearing Gryffindor uniforms and bright, mischievous smiles. Something in the first boy reminded me of Harry. "Can you tell me about my father?" I knew if I looked at him, my eyes would give away the hope in my heart that I'd be able to learn about my past.

"I will tell you when the time is right. I knew your father, he was a trouble-maker, but a great man. I also know that for a fact he would not want me to tell you about him at this moment." I snapped around.

"Why not?"

"Because his name has become synonymous with 'bad' and 'evil' and 'repugnant', all of these things are not true." I turned back to look at the picture, it was moving like the others in the castle. The two boys were playfully shoving each other and holding a trophy between them.

"Why should I trust you?" I watched his reaction.

"You have no real reason to trust a mad old man like me, but I think you will." His bird soared over to perch on my shoulder.

"So you promise that you will tell me about my father when the time is right?" He solemnly nodded.

"I swear." Dumbledore looked from my face to the large red bird. "His name is Fawkes, by the way, he is a phoenix." The bird jumped off my shoulder and went back to his perch.

"He's beautiful."

"I agree." Dumbledore tapped his fingers on his desk. "I need you to watch out for Harry, there are some who do not rejoice in the fact that he destroyed the Dark Lord eleven years ago."

"I already do that, professor." I made my way along the lines of photographs and portraits.

"I hear you are a proficient pianist."

"I'm okay," I said with a smirk.

"Modesty doesn't become you, Miss Black. Never try to be anything you're not, it takes too much effort." I looked at the sorting hat, limp on the shelf.

"What makes you think that I won't just go and look up my family in a book in the library?"

"Because you will find no record of yourself in any book." I walked out of the office and down the stairs in a fog.

My mind was preoccupied as I walked to my next class, Introduction to Flying, from Dumbledore's office. The things he had said weighed heavily on my mind. I wasn't paying much attention as I walked into the Quad to tell the professor where I had been. I saw a set of robes hanging from a wall sconce and the kids were all looking to the sky. Harry came soaring down and held up the Rememberbrall. I ran over with the rest of the students. He held it up in victory. I looked over at Seamus and asked, "What happened?"

"Well Neville's broom went wonky and he dropped the Rememberall. Malfoy over there tossed it and Harry caught it. It was really brilliant." Professor McGonagall came trotting out.

"Potter, come here please." I grabbed the glass orb from him, telling him I was going to give it to Neville. He nodded.

"Thanks." He looked a little scared about going with the Gryffindor House Head. I ran off to the medical wing to see how Neville was doing, he must have been so scared! I heaved open the door and saw the spiky haired professor holding Neville's wrist. The nurse bustled over and waved her wand. I heard a loud crack and Neville whimpered. I hurried over to him.

"Neville! Are you okay?" He looked up at me and nodded quickly.

"Yeah," he blushed. The nurse gave him some potion to drink. The professor looked at me and then her watch.

"Miss Black, I trust you can see that Mr. Longbottom gets where he needs to go safely?" I nodded.

"Yes ma'am." I handed Neville his Rememberall.

"Thanks." I smiled at him.

"It's Harry you ought to thank, he got it from that dreadful Malfoy boy." I stuck my tongue out upon saying his name. "You better drink that," I pointed at the cup of grey liquid. I sniffed it. "It'll make sure the bone heals lickity split." He sipped it and gagged.

"That's disgusting," I took the cup from him and looked around to make sure the nurse was preoccupied. I pulled out my wand and touched it to the rim.

I handed it back to him. He tried a little of it again. "How does it taste now?"

"Like chocolate pudding," he drank a little more, "and bacon." He drained the cup. "How'd you do that?"

"Magic." We both chuckled.

* * *

"So you're going to learn how to play Quidditch?" I asked Harry as we walked from the dormitories to breakfast.

"I guess. I'm supposed to meet Wood later to go over the basics."

"May I join you?" I smiled at him.

"I guess, I don't have a problem with it." We were walking to the Great Hall for a late breakfast. It was Saturday. Hagrid wanted me to come down and help him hatch some flobberworms, but I wasn't too keen to do so. I also had a potions lesson with Professor Snape this morning.

"Good morning," the Weasley twins swooped in and wrapped their arms around my shoulders, escorting me to the table.

"Good morning." I sat down next to Seamus, who was trying to turn his water into rum. I munched on some toast and watched as he cast his spell.

"Seamus I think that—" but it was too late for me to finish the thought. We were both covered in soot from his combusted glass of water. I snorted and everyone burst out laughing.

"Sorry," the boy said. I shook my head.

"It's fine." I grabbed a napkin and dunked it in my glass. I washed off the black from his face out of habit. At the orphanage, we all took care of each other. I noticed that everyone had stopped talking and was looking at me. "What?" I said, letting my hand drop from Seamus's face.

"You're cleaning my face for me." He said, eyes wide.

"Ooooh, does that have some weird wizarding significance?" I rolled my eyes. "Do we have to get married now?" I widened my eyes in mock horror.

"No, just peculiar is all." Ron said. I saw Professor Snape walk in and gesture for me to go with him.

"I have to go, see you later." I grabbed my bag and quickly squashed a fried egg between two pieces of toast and ran to talk to the potions master.

Snape and I had made an arrangement. I was a natural at potions so he would have me help him make all the potions for around the school in exchange for advanced potion lessons every morning that my schedule permitted.

"Good morning, Professor." I said with a smile before I took a big bite of my sandwich.

He grunted in response. We always had a brisk pace as we walked to his class room in the mornings.

"It's a nice day out, isn't it? The weather is still very nice, don't you think?" He was unlocking his door.

"How many times do I have to remind you that I don't engage in mindless chatter?"

"As many times as I try to get you to hold a conversation with me." I said with a smug smirk.

I walked inside and set up my station. I heaved one of the larger cauldrons onto the table. I had to stand on a chair to get it up onto the stand over the flame. I looked over at the teacher.

"What are we going to make today?"

"We are brewing a simple flu remedy for the nurse before it sets in this winter." He handed me the instructions. I skimmed over the steps as I collected the ingredients. I turned up my fire, tossing the herbs and bits and pieces in. I looked over at Snape. He was brewing another potion.

"I wanted to tell you that I'll keep your secret about Lily."

"I expect nothing less." I frowned and stirred my potion.

* * *

I was walking with Harry and Wood out to the grassy Quad as they carried the heavy trunk full of Quidditch equipment between them. I sat down and Wood winked at me as he opened the trunk.

"This," Wood picked of a large ball that had divots in it, "is a quaffle, the chasers try to get this past the keeper, me." He put that ball back. Two of the balls were chained down and shaking against the bindings.

"What are those?" Harry asked.

"These nasty things are bludgers." He pressed a button and one of them was released. It flew up into the air. "You'll need this." He handed Harry a stout bat with tape wrapped around the middle. The ball came whizzing back. Harry hit it up through the crossed swords of a stone guard.

"Those look dangerous," I pointed out as Wood got the air knocked out of him when he caught the nasty ball.

"But Harry doesn't need to worry about those. This is the one you, the seeker, needs to worry about." He held up a gold sphere the size of a golf ball. Harry took it and the Snitch sprouted delicate wings. It zipped around, faster than I could have seen.

"I like that ball." Harry said, looking over at me.

"You like it now, but it'll be a lot harder to see during the match."

"Wood, what was your first match like?" I said, dusting of my skirt as I stood up.

"Don't honestly remember, Nora," he shrugged. "Five minutes in I got hit by a bludger, woke up a week later in the hospital wing." He plucked the golden snitch out of the air and put it away.

"Ready to practice, Harry?" The young wizard nodded excitedly.

"I just remembered that I need to go talk to Hagrid. Stay safe Harry! Bye Oliver." I smiled and waved at both of them, running down the hill to Hagrid's hut. Maybe hatching flobberworms wouldn't be that bad…

* * *

"You know, I've always enjoyed Halloween." I said to Snape as I helped carve the enchanted pumpkins for the great hall.

"And why is that," the professor said in his nasally voice.

"Because it always feels like people are celebrating my birthday by having a masquerade ball." I mumbled the extended levitation spell over the pumpkin and let it float up to the ceiling.

"Your birthday is today?" I nodded.

"Yeah, or at least it was the day I was dropped off at the orphanage." I said.

"I see." I pulled another pumpkin towards me and started on carving it. I spent the afternoon up to my elbows in gourds.

After I had washed the pumpkin guts off, I sat down between the twins at the Halloween feast. Harry and I smiled at each other and I ate a crème filled pumpkin cake. The twins kept bumping into me. At first, I thought it was on accident, but then I watched them and I knew it was on purpose.

"Stop bumping into me." I told them sternly after they knocked my elbow and made the carrot on my fork fall off and splash gravy on me.

"Maybe you should move over by Harry, he seems lonely." I huffed and crawled under the table to the other side.

"They grow up so fast." Fred and George said in a mock sadness as Harry helped me up onto the bench.

I stuck my tongue out at them and resumed eating. "Have you seen Hermione?" I asked Ron and Harry.

They shook their head. "Pavarti Patel said she's in the girls' lavatory, crying. Been there all afternoon.

"Why didn't anyone tell me!?" I stood up to run and get her. "What did you two say to her?" I scolded them. Harry looked away and Ron's mouth was full. I glared at both of them and stormed off to the doors which were thrown open wide by professor Quirrell. He ran past me, screaming.

"TROOOOOOOOOLLLL IN THE DUNGEON! Thought you outta know." He collapsed in front of the teacher's table. Everyone stood up and screamed. I ran out. I needed to tell Hermione. She needed a friend.

I ran in and heard her crying. "Hermione!"

"Go away," her voice was coarse from her tears.

"There's a troll in the school, we need to go to the dormitory."

"No," she said stubbornly. I moved over and said softly.

"They're stupid boys." I waited for a response. "They're intimidated by your intellect." I heard a faint scrape. "Maybe you should try to help them instead of chastise them, which might make them like you more." I heard heavy breathing behind me. I turned and gasped.

"What is it?" Hermione went to open the door.

"Get down," the huge troll heaved its club and took out the first few cubicles, turning them to splinters. I hit the ground. Harry and Ron ran in.

"Nora!" Harry yelled. I scampered over to grab Hermione's hand and pulled her out from under the wood on top of her. The troll took a few lumbering steps closer to us. I had a firm hold on Hermione and yanked her over to attempt to hide under the sinks.

The troll raised its club and crushed the sink just as soon as the two of us had scrambled out of the way. I stood up and jumped on the troll's arm, Harry grabbed the other and he was raised up and grabbed onto the head.

"Ron! Help us!" I yelled, he pulled out his wand and shook as he pointed at the club.

"Wengardium Leveosa," and the club was floating above us.

"Good job, Ron!" I cheered as I climbed up the troll's arm. The Weasley boy smiled and then the big stick conked the ugly troll on the head. I grabbed Harry by the robe and pulled him so he wouldn't get crushed by the falling behemoth.

"Thanks," Harry said as I pulled his wand out of the troll's nose with a grimace. I handed it to him and he wiped it off on his robes.

"Any time," I looked over at the doors and saw the professors ran in. I waited for them to scold us.

"What are you four doing?!" I pointed at the troll.

"Why, we're serving the school by defeating this manky old beast." I tapped the brute's arm with the toe of my sneaker to make sure it was out cold. McGonagall glared at me. "I suspect that should win us a few house points."

"They came to get me," Hermione stepped forward, "I'd read about trolls and thought I could take care of it." Harry, Ron, and I all looked over at her in shock. "Without them, I'd be dead."

"I expected more from you, Miss Granger." The house mistress shook her head. "Five points will be taken from Gryffindor." We all sighed. "As for you three," she pinched the bridge of her nose, "Five points will awarded to Gryffindor for sheer dumb luck." I noticed that professor Snape's leg was bleeding. I met his eyes and he shook his head slightly, as if to tell me not to say anything. I nodded. We all ran up to the common room to share our adventure.

We were sitting at breakfast the next morning, it was the day of Harry's first Quidditch match.

"Harry, eat something or else you'll be sick." I pushed the bowl of oatmeal closer to him. He was pushing his eggs and bacon around his plate.

"I'm not hungry." I glared at him and he picked up a piece of toast and nibbled at it.

"Good luck today, Potter." Snape said.

As he limped away, Harry said something about how Snape was the one trying to steal the Sorcerer's Stone.

"No he isn't," I said, crossing my arms.

"How do you know? He got attacked by Fluffy!" I shook my head.

"He's protecting it, not trying to steal it." He shook his head.

"Potter!" Wood called, hurrying in and carrying a long package. It was a broomstick wrapped in paper. We tore it open and Ron gasped.

"That's the Nimbus 2000! The fastest broom on the market." Harry and I looked up at Professor McGonagall and she nodded at us.

I rushed with Harry to get ready for his Quidditch match.

I walked with Harry to the pre-match meeting and waited for them to line up. I hugged Harry, and wished him luck. I looked over at Wood and he smile at me. I kissed him on the cheek quickly. The twins frowned.

"Why are you giving him a kiss?" They barred my way so I couldn't leave the tent.

"For luck… why, you two jealous?"

"No, we just thought that Harry wouldn't appreciate you kissing other blokes." I shook my head.

"Whatever, good luck Harry," I ducked under the twin's arms and went to stand with the others to cheer on Harry.

The match was going really well until the bloody seeker of the Slytherin team hit Wood with the bludger.

"Oi!" I yelled, "He can't just do that!" Ron pulled me back from the railing.

"He kind of can, there aren't a lot of rules against it." Slytherin tied the score. I watched Harry as he zipped after the Snitch. His broom went wonky and tried to toss him off a hundred feet above the ground.

"Harry!" I tried to find some way to help him.

Hermione pushed her way past me and went to do something. I followed her. We climbed up to the teachers' box and she went up to where Snape was sitting. I tried to get her to stop before she did something to him, but she had already set his robes on fire. I pulled her back and glared at her.

"He was hexing Harry's broom!"

"No he wasn't!"

We both ran out to see how Harry was doing. He pulled himself back up onto his broom and chased after the snitch once again. He was racing along close to the ground and he couldn't reach the flying prize.

"Go Harry! Get it!" I yelled.

He stood up on his broom and kept flying, he jumped off and rolled. It was quiet and then Harry stood up, I realized that I hadn't been breathing. He held his stomach and looked like he was going to be sick. He spit out the snitch and held it up.

I cheered louder than all the rest for him.

* * *

I was lying in bed, watching the hands on the clock tick closer to Christmas. The Weasleys, Harry, and I were the only Gryffindors left in the dormitory. I had gotten them all gifts; I hoped they liked them. I waited anxiously for the morning to arrive.

My first semester here had been magnificent. I made lots of friends. Not all of them were Gryffindor either. I had a few in the other houses, even two or three in Slytherin that weren't all that bad. Snape was still teaching me potions, not really teaching, I just picked up a potion to make and made it with his supervision and the occasional snarky comment. We even had conversations now. We talked about books, and herbs, and plants. He never told me about my father, or his past.

One time, a few days ago, after I had brewed up a particularly complicated batch of long term Polyjuice Potion for the Ministry of Magic, Snape let it slip that I reminded him so much of Lily. I smiled and he told me to not let it go to my head. I kept on smirking as I ladled the foul smelling liquid into a jar for transport.

I had fallen back asleep when there was a thunderous knock at my door. I bolted up and threw it open. The twins were standing there with their arms full of presents. I looked at the foot of my bed. I had some too! We collapsed onto the floor with our spoils. They had used their brooms to fly up to the door and bypass the hexed steps that would turn into a slide if a boy tried to get to the girl's dormitory.

I tore open a tissue covered package; it was a violet colored sweater from Mrs. Weasley.

"Mum made it for you, least you don't have your initial on it." George said as he tore open the box I had given him and he pulled out a package of colored dye pellets. I'd enchanted them to be indelible for a day.

"Honestly, it's like she thinks we forget our names. They're obviously Gred and Feorge." I smiled and pulled it on.

"I love it." I picked up a funny shaped box from Hagrid. It came with a note.

_Keep it warm._

_Merry Christmas._

_Rubeus Hagrid_

I opened it carefully, inside was a maroon egg with gold flecks. I picked it up and the boys crawled over to admire it.

"Bloody Hell, do you know what that is?" They said in unison.

"No," I looked at the eager glean in their eyes.

"It's a phoenix egg, really rare. Most of them are just caught in the wild and tamed." I watched as the egg shook and then caught fire, burning away the exterior to reveal a tiny chick. Its feathers already drying to show that it was covered in gleaming red down. I stroked its head and it made a happy sound. It nuzzled it against my cheek and I smiled. I sat it back down in its box that had a nest all ready for it. I opened a box of fudge from Hermione. Neville had sent me a moon plant-he was quite the budding herbologist. The twins made me open their present next. I was wary.

"Is it booby trapped?" They shook their heads.

"Just open it!" I tore off the paper and pulled out a box full of little magical tricks and pranks. They'd been getting me into trouble with their antics, but I enjoyed it too much to stop.

"Thanks," I threw my arms around them and hugged them, "This is the best Christmas I've ever had." I looked at my baby bird and looked up. The boys were just looking at me with this funny expression on their faces. It was like they were happy I was happy, but sad that this was the best Christmas I had ever had. I picked up my phoenix chick and announced that we were going to Harry and Ron's room to wish them a Happy Christmas. We burst in and I hugged Harry.

"Happy Christmas!" He smiled. He looked in my box and then furrowed his brow.

"Hagrid give you that?" I smiled and nodded.

"Who else?" We laughed. He showed me the emerald sweater Molly had sent him. I pulled it over his head. "It goes with your eyes. I like it." Percy came in, sweater in his arms, scowl on his face.

"Nora, you should not be in the boys' dormitory." I stood up and smiled.

"It's Christmas, Percy. Did you really think I was going to stay in my room by myself?" I tilted my head to the side a little, still grinning. He rolled his eyes and scoffed. I was adorable.

The twins pulled the sweater out of Percy's arms and forced it over his head. We all ran after them to go feast in the great hall.

There was so much food!

I spun around happily. My phoenix squawked and I gave it little bits of turkey that it gobbled up greedily. The teachers were all enjoying themselves. There were wizard crackers placed every few plates and we all went around pulling them open with a bang. In every one of them two or three live white mice popped out along with a confetti of jokes but there were also real things; I got a rainbow ink set, scarlet top hat, emerald colored pocket watch, and Harry gave me a little satchel that he'd gotten. It was purple with little blue sequins.

"Not my style," he said with a grin. I moved my phoenix chick into that so I could free up my hands to carry my new things back to my room.

I went out wandering while the others slept off their food hangovers. Hagrid had given me a cage to keep my bird in and it was sleeping soundly. The blasted thing ate more than I did at the feast! It particularly enjoyed the sweets. I hope her sweet tooth wouldn't be a habit.

I twirled through the castle, too happy to care that it was a bit colder in the halls than the common room.

"There you are, Miss Black. I was just on my way to see you." The headmaster walked towards me.

"Merry Christmas, professor." He smiled kindly at me.

"I have a present for you and Mr. Potter." He held out two hand mirrors.

"Mirrors? Whatever for, sir?" I asked as I took them.

"Let me show you." He took one from the top and looked in it. "Renora Black." The man's face appeared on my mirror's surface. "See? It's a way to communicate with Harry that isn't through owls."

"Wow, this is amazing, thanks!" I took the mirrors and ran back to the common room. "Harry!" I yelled. Andromeda, the phoenix chick, squawked for me.

"What?" He said, rolling off the couch that he'd been comatose on.

"Here, this is for you." I handed him the plainer looking mirror.

"…thanks?" He said, looking at the mirror.

"Watch this." I ran up to my dormitory. "Harry Potter." The mirror's surface rippled and showed me Harry. "Look at the mirror!"

"Woah! Is that really you talking?" I nodded.

"Yeah! Dumbledore gave them to me. One's for you, the other is for me so we can keep in touch all the time." I slid down the railing on the steps leading back down to the main room.

"These are bloody brilliant." Harry held it up. "I have something to show you." He ran up to his room and brought back a silvery cloak.

I let the material run between my fingers, it was like water. "What is it?"

"An invisibility cloak!" He tossed it around my shoulders and I looked down; my body was gone!

"Cool! Do you know how much trouble we could get it with this?" I laughed and twirled around. I pulled it off and handed it back to him.

"Don't tell anyone," I nodded.

"Of course I wouldn't." I looked at the back of the mirror. Engraved in the handle were the letters _I.E.P. _"Harry, look at these." I showed him the initials. He looked on his.

"Mine has them, too." He pointed out a scripted _S.B_. I ran my fingers over them.

"Do you think that they were a set?"

"I don't know, but they really are cool, aren't they?" I nodded and picked up my phoenix. Her feathers were growing fast! She was already completely covered in deep red down with gold tail feathers. She cocked her head to the side and chirped, and using her talons to climb up the arm of my sweater and sit on my shoulder, and nuzzled up against my neck. I sat with Harry and we gorged ourselves on sweets and lounged about, listening to Christmas music play on the radio.


	2. Philosopher's Stone part 2

"Miss Black, what have I told you about bringing your pet to class?" Professor Flitwick glowered at me. I shrugged. My almost fully grown bird refused to leave me alone.

"I'm sorry. She doesn't stay. I've tried everything, professor. You have to believe me!" I pulled the bird off my shoulder and put her on the desk. She jumped right back to where she had been perched. He shook his head.

"Next time you set foot in this classroom, there better not be a bird on your person." I nodded and pulled out my book.

Andi, short for Andromeda, wouldn't leave me alone, she followed me where ever I went. I tried putting her in her cage; she opened it. I tried to have Hagrid babysit her; she just ran off. I was at my wit's end. She would crawl into bed with me and one night her tail feathers caught my blanket on fire!

Something about phoenix tail feathers has it where they can expel heat from them, sometimes it could burn you or just warm you up on a cold day. Hermione and the Patel girls thought that she was beautiful. The blasted bird never bothered anyone except me. Everyone spoils her by feeding her chocolates all the time, which is bound to have negative effects of her health or growth.

* * *

I was sitting in the Room of Requirement playing the piano. I was alone. Andi had finally learned that I wasn't going to abandon her when I left her in the common room. I had found this room from a hint Dumbledore dropped the other day. He told me that I should try looking for a room I needed when he saw me looking rather stressed one day.

I was seated at a glass grand piano. I was playing all different songs, some were Muggle songs and others were just songs I composed.

I started singing along with one of the songs, eyes closed, fingers finding their ways to the right keys by themselves. I hit the last chord and opened my eyes.

"Wow." Harry said, impressed. He clapped. I felt my cheeks blush bright red.

"How'd you find me in here?" I stood up.

"I dunno, I was just walking around and this big door just showed up, and I thought 'random door, seems legit, better check it out' and you were in here. You are _really_ good." I rolled my eyes and grabbed my book bag.

"I know, we need to get to class, come on," I took his hand and we ran through the hallways to herbology.

* * *

I was sitting down in Hagrid's hut. He had obtained a dragon's egg from a man down at the pub and wanted me to be there to watch it hatch. I was sitting at the table with my feet kicked up and Andi curled in my lap, more like troublesome cat than a magical bird at this point.

I heard a knock at the door. Hagrid rushed over and opened it.

"I'm sorry, I'm in no fit state to entertain today, goodbye." I heard three voices chant that they knew about the Sorcerer's Stone. He sighed and let the trio in. I smiled at Harry.

"We think that Snape is trying to steal the Sorcerer's Stone."

"Steal it?! Snape's one of the people _protecting_ the stone."

"Of course! There must be all manner of things protecting it, enchantments, traps, things like that."

"Forget I said that." There was a loud clanging noise from the fireplace cauldron.

I gently put my bird in a pile of blankets on the couch. There was a cracking noise in the cauldron Hagrid was using to heat up the dragon so it could hatch.

"Hagrid, what is that?" Harry asked as I moved over to watch it hatch.

"I know what that is! Hagrid how did you get one?" Ron said aghast.

"What is it?" Harry repeated again with more annoyance.

"It's a dragon." I answered.

"I got it off a man down at the pub," the egg cracked open. A small dragon stumbled out, tripping a little on the slippery shards of the eggs. The little beast burped and shot flames out, barely missing me. Andi got up and clicked at it. They sniffed each other, sizing the other up.

"However are you going to take care of it?"

"Taking care of animals is simple. I told the man down at the pub if I could raise a three headed dog-" The dragon turned to Hagrid and made a series of clicking noises, "Oh he knows who his mummy is." He was so excited, I smiled at him and he beamed happiness.

"What's that little rat doing here?" I stood up and pointed at Malfoy, peering in the window. I threw open the door and ran after his pale blond head as he was running to I could only assume to tell Professor McGonagall that we four had been out of bed. I grabbed the back of his robes just as we reached the woman's office door. She heard the commotion and came out as we tumbled to the ground rolling like two street urchins.

"What are you two doing?" She said, furiously.

"Black, Potter, Granger, and that Weasley boy were all down at Hagrid's." I punched him in the arm.

"Miss Black!" I glowered at Draco.

"Sorry." I said, meeting her eyes. "Hagrid was hatching a dragon and wanted me to be there." I hoped that would smooth over the fact we were out of bed after hours.

"Hagrid hatched a dragon?" She was shocked. I smacked my face, it was a secret.

"Professor, you have to understand that we weren't doing anything." I said as she ushered us into her office. I was told to sit in the back while Malfoy told his half of the story, riddled with sneers and unnecessary commentary about my friends. There was the sound of the doors opening at the end of the hall. McGonagall strode quickly out of the room. Malfoy looked over at me and smirked. I made to get up and hit him and he flinched. I sat back down. Harry, Ron, and Hermione came in and I got up to stand with them.

"I'm very disappointed in the four of you." She met all of our eyes. Draco looked over at us and laughed. "Which is why I'm giving you five detention." I smirked at Malfoy and his look of utter shock.

"Professor, I think I must have misheard you. Did you say all _five _of us?" She nodded.

"You too, Mr. Malfoy, were out of bed with the rest of them." He looked aghast. We were dismissed with the instruction to see Mr. Flinch tomorrow night. On our way out I caught McGonagall's eye and she nodded at me with a slight smile.

* * *

"So you got yourself detention, huh?" Fred said, jumping over the back of the couch I was sitting on. I looked at him and sighed.

"I thought maybe that Old McGonagall'd let Harry and the others off, but nope."

"It's really not that bad." George followed his brother and landed on the other side of me.

"I don't think it will be, but I have a sinking suspicion that they're going to take Hagrid's dragon from him." I laid my head back and rubbed my eyes.

I felt so bad about letting it slip that Hagrid was hatching a dragon. I should have just made up another lie.

"Heard you punched Malfoy," I nodded at Fred's statement.

"In the arm, nothing to get too worked up about."

"The way he was telling it, you'd think you had broken his entire arm."

"He's a wuss." Harry walked down the steps and I stood up. "Ready to go?" I asked him, he nodded. Ron and Hermione walked over to us.

"And Nora," I looked back over at the twins. They were smiling, "If you could, try and make the rumors true." I rolled my eyes and took Harry's arm.

We met Mr. Flich right outside the Great Hall.

"I remember the days," he grumbled, "back when we used to hang kids up by their thumbs in the dungeon. I do so miss the screaming…" He pushed open the door and we made our way down to Hagrid's hut. I frowned at Hagrid. Dumbledore had sent his dragon off to Romania to be with others of his kind. "You're not still on about that bloody dragon, are you?" Hagrid sniffed and checked his cross bow. I glared at Malfoy and he stepped away from me. "Get it together man, you're going into the forest. You have a special task."

"He was just a baby, what if the others don't like him?" Flich shook his head and dropped the heavy lantern into Harry's arms and walked back up to the school.

We all solemnly marched into the dark foreboding forest. We came upon a tree that had a silvery substance on it.

"What's that?" Harry asked.

"Unicorn blood," Hagrid rubbed some between his fingers. "Found one dead last week, this one is badly injured. We need to find it." Saying we needed to split up, Hagrid took Ron and Hermione.

"Then I get Fang," Malfoy spat. I looked over at him,

"He's a bloody coward, so you two will be great friends." I spat. Harry and I started walking in the direction Hagrid told us. Malfoy trailed behind. I pulled out my wand and used it as a torch. The farther into the woods we got, the less I wanted to be there. I took Harry's hand as we made our way down a tangled mass of roots to a little gully. Malfoy stood at the top and watched us. I turned and saw a cloaked figure drinking from the unicorn we were searching for. I stepped in front of Harry to protect him. He groaned and pressed his fingers to his scar. The figure looked up at us.

"Stay away!" I said loudly, but my voice wavered because I was more than a little afraid.

The thing moved closer to us, swooping up and coming ever nearer. I raised my wand, even though I knew no defensive spells. I heard a thundering of hooves and I turned. A centaur jumped over us, I tackled Harry to keep him from being hit. We sat there and watched the half man half beast scare away the monster. He turned and extended a hand to help me up. "You, young lady, are stupidly brave. You should have just run away when the thing drew near you."

"I'm not into running away from a fight." I said, helping Harry up.

"So much courage in such a young girl… most would call it stupidity"

"Why was that thing drinking unicorn blood?" I asked. The centaur looked down at me.

"Drinking the blood of a unicorn will keep you alive even on the cusp of death." I looked at the slain white beast. "But as soon as the blood passes your lips, you will live a half-life."

"What was it?" Harry asked, rubbing his scar.

"There are many things in these woods who have no real explanation. I suspect you know what lies hidden inside Hogwarts as we speak?"

"The Sorcerer's Stone."

"You should take care, Harry Potter. When The Dark Lord fell, there were more than a few beasts in these woods who wanted to see you dead."

I saw Hagrid run over with the others. "Good evening, Firenze. See you've met our young Mr. Potter and Ms. Black." The centaur ducked low.

"This is where I leave you. You are safe now, Harry Potter." The half-man half-horse looked at me. "I have a sneaking suspicion that I will see you again." I shrugged with an unintentionally mischievous smirk.

* * *

"You can't be serious. You are not going to go get the Sorcerer's Stone." I said in a hushed tone. I hoped my fiery determination in my eyes conveyed the proper level of anger at Harry's plan. "I forbid it." He shook his head.

"Well, we are going to get it before Snape does."

"You're crazy, and I told you that it's not Snape." We were supposed to be studying for our end of the year exams. Harry and I were sitting in the Great Hall with our books and papers strewn about us. Andi was scampering around under the table looking for mice to play with. Honestly, the bird was spoiled and acted like a lap cat.

"How do you know?" Harry said, defensive.

"Why wouldn't he have stolen it sooner?"

"Because Dumbledore's here."

"So then it's safe."

"For now, but I'm going to get it, one way or another." I shook my head and the twins moved in beside me. They kept passing me notes about how hard the tests are and how they almost didn't make it out alive. I just looked over at them each time they passed a piece of parchment to me with a vacant stare.

They didn't like the lack of rise they were getting out of me and after a while they just pointed out the mistakes in my transfiguration homework for me to fix.

* * *

I was staying up late in Snape's office. Final exams were over and he had given me an advanced potions book to look at.

"Wouldn't this work better if I crushed the beetle, instead of trying to cut it?" I held up the slippery little bug and Snape nodded, watching my movements.

I used the side of my blade to crush all the goo out and pour it into my simmering cauldron.

"Can you hand me the dragon liver, please?" I asked, pointing to a jar above his head. He waved his wand. The liver floated casually down onto my cutting board. I carved off a chunk and Snape returned it to its potion bath to preserve it for later. I thoughtfully sliced it up into thin strips. "Harry thinks you're going to steal the Sorcerer's stone."

"That would explain why those three were acting so strange today."

"What?"

"Never mind, your potion is burning." I finished up and realized that it was really late.

"I need to go to bed, goodnight professor." I put my book in my bag and trudged up the steps with my wand as a flashlight. The paintings on the walls complained about the light so I lowered it and kept moving quickly. I had to wake up the fat lady to tell her the password. I walked into the common room and tripped over something on the floor. I sat up and saw that Neville had been petrified.

"Harry!" I said in an angry whisper. "One second, Neville, I'll fix you." I grappled for my wand on the floor and waved it, freeing Neville from his paralysis.

"Thanks, Nora."

"Any time, just go to bed now Neville," he nodded dumbly and I ran back out of the tower. It was quite the trek back down to the dungeons. I threw open the door, "Professor! They've gone to get the stone!" Snape's head snapped up and I nodded. He quickly walked over to me and grabbed my shoulder.

"We must get them." He took us back up to the third floor corridor. Fluffy was waiting for us. Snape stunned the dog and we jumped down the dark tunnel. We landed in a piled of thick black coils that snaked around my body. I tensed up.

"Snape, what's going on!?"

"Relax, it'll let your body go." I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I dropped onto the stone floor beneath. Snape landed on his feet and helped me up.

We went into the next chamber, hundreds of keys flew lazily through the air. Snape waved his wand and a single key fell to floor. He used this rusty key to unlock the door.

"Hermione! Ron!" I ran over to the two kids. Ron needed some medical attention. "Where's Harry!?" I said nervously.

"He went on ahead." Hermione pointed at the next door.

"Professor, take care of them," a look of shock came over his face.

"Miss Black, I—" I was already running through the door and down the flight of stairs. I was met with a wall of dying flames. Harry was unconscious. I doused the flames with water I conjured and kneeled down next to my friend.

"Harry, wake up, you have to wake up. Harry!" My heart thundered in my chest; I had failed Dumbledore. I had failed to protect Harry. I had failed Harry. I stroked his hair off his forehead and shook him. I saw a beautiful big red gem by his hand; the Sorcerer's stone. I reached for it and put it in my pocket. Harry murmured. I hugged him. Snape came barreling down the steps and I handed him the stone out of my pocket. He stashed it away and picked up Harry.

We all made our way out of the maze and to the hospital wing.

* * *

I was sleeping in a chair next to Harry's bed. He still hadn't woken up fully yet. I heard footsteps and opened my bleary eyes.

"Professor?" I asked Dumbledore.

"I see you're still here, Miss Black." I yawned and looked at Harry. He stirred and opened his eyes. I squeezed his hand and smiled.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, sleepyhead." Dumbledore chuckled at my greeting and picked up a box of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans.

"Professor, what happened to the stone?" Harry asked as I handed him his glasses.

"It has been destroyed."

"What about Mr. Flamel?" I asked.

"He has enough potion to last him until his affairs are in order." Harry looked like he had something else to say. "What happened down in the dungeons with you and Professor Quirrell was a secret. So, obviously, the entire school knows." I furrowed my brow. I still had not heard the entire story of what happened down there.

"Why… Why couldn't I touch him, sir?"

"You're mother loved you very much. When she cast herself between you two the night you got your scar, she created a protection that would keep Voldemort from touching you."

"Wow, so Voldemort was Professor Quirrell?" I looked away and smiled, "Maybe Fred, George, and I shouldn't have enchanted those snow balls to hit him in the back of the head then."

"It is a little more complicated than that, Miss Black, but it doesn't surprise me that you and the Weasley twins hit Voldemort with snow balls." Dumbledore chuckled softly and looked through the jelly beans. "I once had a very bad experience with Bertie Botts when I was younger."

"Oh really?" I said.

"Yes, I had the unfortunate luck of eating a vomit flavored one." I grimaced. "But I suppose that a nice toffee wouldn't hurt." He popped a light brown bean into his mouth and chewed. Harry and I watched him. "Alas, ear wax." He smiled at us both and told me that I could sleep in one of the beds since they weren't filled. Harry and I laughed and he told me all about how he had defeated, for now, the Dark Lord for the second time.

I was standing on the train platform with Andi on my shoulder. She was still smaller than Fawkes, but she was a great deal younger, too. I ran up to Neville and hugged him, slipping Trevor the toad into his jacket pocket.

"Promise me you'll write to me this summer?" I said with a smile tinged with sadness.

"Of course!" He smiled and hurried onto the train. Seamus ran up to me and quickly hugged me.

"See you next year?" He said with a self-conscious grin. I nodded.

"You're not going to get rid of me that easy." He nodded and went to get in line with Dean. I saw Harry with his two best friends. He waved at me and made his way to me. I hugged him tightly. "You better stay out of trouble, Harry James Potter." I said with a stern look.

"I have the mirror so we'll stay in touch, no worries, Nora." I hugged him again. Hagrid lumbered over and Harry hugged him.

"See you guys." I waved to Hermione and Ron. Just before the train was supposed to pull out of the station the twins ran to me and hugged me together.

"Don't get into too much trouble without us, Nora Black." I kissed each of their cheeks and could have sworn they blushed a little.

"Get your butts on the train or I'll be stuck with you all summer." They jumped onto the train and waved to me as it left the station.

It was sad to watch all my friends pull away. Hagrid put his hand on my shoulder. The weight of which made my knees buckle a little. Andi crawled from my shoulder to Hagrid's.

"So Nora, what do you want to do now?" The train was almost out of sight.

I looked up at the ragged looking half-giant. "Hagrid, I want to have fun." I walked with Hagrid back to his hut as he told me all about the beasts that lived on the school's grounds.

I put my hands in the pockets of my jacket and found a folded paper. I opened it and kept unfolding all the little extra pieces and it was completely blank.


	3. Chamber of Secrets part 1

I was running through the secret passages of Hogwarts. Peeves was cackling along with me as we ran from Flich and Mrs. Norris. I had slipped some squawking screechers under the door to his room and they had both woken up with hisses and yelps.

Their door had been flung open and I saw Mr. Filch standing in his nightgown glowering at me.

"Black!" He moved to run after me. That was where I was now, and Peeves had joined me. I twisted and turned down the myriad of hallways and rickety ladders. I stopped to take a breath in my room.

Well it wasn't really MY room, it was more of a room I had found and claimed as my own. It was an abandoned music room. I had cleaned up the cobwebs, swept out the dust, and drug a large pile of pillows and blankets up here to make it homey.

I still slept at Hagrid's house, but this little nook in one of the towers was where I would go to read, play the piano, or answer the letters my friends sent me. Professor McGonagall had taught me how to transfigure my clothes into whatever style I wanted so I didn't have to buy new ones all the time.

I had been growing like Professor Sprout's mandrake sproutlings. The twins would certainly be surprised when they saw me in a few weeks. An owl swooped in through the windows and dropped my letters at my feet. I flipped through them, one was a post card from Seamus. He'd gone to America for holiday. Neville sent me a letter with some dried flowers from his garden. I was surprised to see how thick the letter from the twins was. I tilted it back and forth and it felt like there was sand in it.

I opened it up and the letter was covered in a fine layer of grey ash that I brushed off. Fred and George had scrawled their devious escape plan for Harry. I'd told them that Harry's aunt and uncle had gotten out of control; they had put bars on his windows! The twins told me that the stuff in the envelope was called floo powder. I was to wait until the day before Harry's birthday, the day after tomorrow, and use the powder to get to the Weasley's home, which they affectionately called 'The Burrow'. I took out my mirror to get a hold of Harry but thought better of it. Harry would love a good surprise since he hadn't gotten any letters from his friends, or so he had thought. A few days ago, I was talking to Harry via our mirrors and he told me that crazy little house elf had been in his room and waved a stack of letters in Harry's face that were all from his friends. That same house elf, Dobby, had succeeded in dropping Mrs. Dursley's cake on Mr. Dursley's business associate's wife's head, which ended in bars being put on Harry's window.

I laughed and Andi soared in, a dead rat in her beak. I frowned. "Andromeda, get it out. Go to the owlery with the rest of the birds if you're going to eat that." She lowered her head and gave me a pathetic look. I sighed. "Fine, just don't leave anything behind that I have to clean up." The phoenix jumped up and perched on the rafters, enjoying her snack.

I flopped down onto my pillows and looked over my mail again. It felt so good to have friends that wanted to talk to me all the time.

* * *

I had told Hagrid that I was going to go shopping with the Weasley twins. While this alarmed him, I assured him that Molly would be with us the entire time. The morning of July 30th I packed my backpack full of clothes for my stay at the Weasley's. I was so excited. They had been telling me about all the adventures they had planned for the next school year and I was helping them invent some new pranks via our letter correspondence.

I was up to the school to use one of the bigger fire places to go to the Burrow. Snape gave me a raised eyebrow when I ran past him quickly.

"See you Professor!" I stood in an unlit fireplace and took a deep breath. "The Burrow." I threw the ashy powder down and was engulfed in bright green flames. I twisted and soared in darkness until I stumbled out of another fireplace into the homey looking front room of a house. Fred and George came thundering down the stairs and attacked me, knocking me to the floor when they hugged me.

"Gee guys, I missed you, too, but let me up, please." The each grabbed one of my hands and pulled me up. Fred grabbed the end of my braid and scowled.

"What's this?" He asked.

"…A braid?"

"Why'd you do it?" George asked.

"It's my adventure braid, I only wear it when I know I'm going to get into trouble." I said with a sarcastic tone.

"I don't like it." Fred said blatantly. "You should keep your hair the way you usually have it." I furrowed my brow but before I could say anything, Mrs. Weasley ran in and was surprised to see me.

"Nora! I wasn't expecting you," she came over and started cleaning my face with the corner of her apron.

"Sorry, I just dropped by for a visit." The twins winked at me.

"Well you are happy to stay as long as you like." I gave her my hundred watt smile that no one could resist. She ushered me into the kitchen and tried to get me to eat all the food she threw in front of me. I kept telling her that I wasn't hungry, but she wouldn't relent until I had taken a blueberry muffin. The twins drug me up to their room to show me their prototypes and tell me our plan. The way to their room, George grabbed Ron and he was in on our scheming.

That night the twins gave me the signal and I silently snuck out of Ginny's room. We all piled into Mr. Weasley's flying muggle car and rattled down the driveway and then shuddered up into the sky. It was a long way to Surrey. I was in the front seat with Fred driving. I chattered excitedly with the three red haired boys about how their summer had been and if they were all excited to go back to Hogwarts. I asked the twins about Oliver Wood, if they had heard from him and what he was up to. I had a little bit of a crush on him. He was the captain of the Quidditch team so of course I would like him. I also kept in touch with Sawyer from the Leaky Cauldron. He sent me a letter every few days telling me about how things were in Diagon Alley and how his music was coming along. I was excited to see him when Molly said we'd be going school shopping in a few days.

It was the middle of the night before we got to number 4 Privet Drive, Surrey and Harry was asleep. I leaned out of the car and knocked on the window. He got up and opened the glass from the inside.

"Nora? Fred, George, Ron!?" He said excitedly. "What are you doing here?"

"Come along, my little prisoner, get packed up we've come to rescue you!" He ran deeper into his room. Ron handed me a hook attached to a length of rope that I had tied to the back of the car. I hooked it onto the bars on Harry's windows and Fred grinded the car into gear and ripped them off. We backed up and Harry struggled with getting the school trunk into the boot of the car. I heard his uncle yell from the hallway. He was unlocking the door. Harry finally got the trunk in and we pulled back around to get Hedwig and Harry. I handed the bird and her cage to Ron and then reached for Harry. I grabbed onto his hands as a hulking man with a disheveled mop of greying blond hair grabbed Harry's foot. I held onto Harry and was almost pulled out of the car. George and Ron leaned over the seat and grabbed onto me.

"Drive, Fred! Hurry!" I cried out. I held onto Harry and Fred took off. Mr. Dursley lost his grip on Harry's foot. I pulled him into the car and he slammed the door.

"By the way Harry, happy birthday." I said handing him his birthday present of an Irish Quidditch jersey. He gave me an awkward half hug because of the cramped conditions.

"Thanks so much, Nora!" I smiled and Ron and Harry jabbered excitedly while I rubbed my eyes, struggling to stay awake. After a while, Harry and Ron's conversation died out and I felt my eyes get heavier.

I woke up leaning against Fred who was guiding the car down the ground. He looked over at me and laughed.

"What?" We came to a sliding gut wrenching stop and Harry helped me out of the car. He let Hedwig out and she went to fly to a roost. George snuck up to the door and made sure it was clear for us to come in. We five snuck in and the boys grabbed some of Molly's blueberry muffins. I looked over at something that looked like a grandfather clock with little pictures of the family on the hands and in place of numbers there were places the kids could have been. Ron, George, and Fred's pictures all moved from the "Lost" banner to the "Home" banner. I turned and smiled at my friends.

"Where _have_ you been?!" Molly screeched. The twins pulled me between them behind Ron and Harry. "No note, beds empty, you could have been killed! Or worse, you could have been seen!" She saw Harry.

"I don't blame you or Nora, Harry dear."

"They were starving him, mum!" Ron pleaded. "They put bars on his windows!"

"You better hope I don't put bars on your window, Ronald Weasley." she said with a stern look. "Come along now, time for a spot of breakfast." She herded us back into the kitchen and we all sat down. The twins sat me between them and filled up my plate with oatmeal, bacon and fruit, even though I didn't ask for it. A man in a pointed hat came in.

"Good morning all!"

"Morning Dad!" The Weasley's chimed together. Mr. Weasley sat down next to Harry, glanced at him and then the paper. He stiffened and looked back over at Harry.

"And who are you?" He asked curiously.

"Harry Potter," Arthur Weasley smiled.

"My lord, are you really?" Harry nodded.

"Well then, Harry you must know all about Muggles, what exactly is the function of a rubber duck?" There was an owl hoot and everyone looked to the window.

"That'll be Errol with the post." The bird slammed into the window and I stifled my laugh. "Be a dear and fetch it won't you, Percy?" Percy with his mused hair and prefect badge went to window and got the letter from his owl's beak.

"It's our Hogwarts letters, and they've sent us Harry and Nora's as well."

"Nora?" Mr. Weasley asked, "Who's Nora?" I leaned around George and waved at their dad.

"Nora Black, friend of the twins." He looked shocked.

"I didn't see you between them. Hope they've been keeping you out of trouble."

"Funny you should mention that." Molly said, putting her hand on her hip. "Your sons flew that enchanted car to Surrey and back last night."

"Did you really? How'd it go?"

"Arthur!" Molly interjected.

"I mean it was very irresponsible of you boys, very wrong indeed." He winked at us when Molly turned her back. The youngest Weasley, Ginny, came running down the steps.

"Mum, where's my jumper?" She asked sweetly in her bathrobe.

"Ginny dear, it's on the cat." Ginny saw Harry and her eyes grew wide. The twins snickered and Harry told her hello and she ran back upstairs.

"What did I do?" Harry asked and I laughed.

"Ginny has a crush on you, Harry." I said, throwing a piece of toast at him from where I was sitting. We went to read our school letters.

"These books won't come cheap, mum," George said, passing the stack of parchment down. "The spell books alone are quite expensive." Mrs. Weasley bustled over to us and took the letter out of George's hands and looked it over.

"We'll manage." She handed it back. "There's only one place where we're going to get all of the things on this list… Diagon Alley." She told us to go get ready for a day shopping. I dressed in a scarlet and gold dress.

"Where'd you get all that?" The twins said, aghast. I opened my knapsack wider and shrugged. The twins dug into my stash of pranks and gags.

"Zonko's. Hagrid took me." I had already told them that I was making potions for the ministry and that was where most of my money came from for everything I bought, which since I could transfigure my own clothes to tailor my tastes, left quite a bit of money to spend on jokes and things to make pranks with.

"We're going to have so much fun." George said quickly closing the bag before his mum could see.

"Come along Harry, you first." Molly said, grabbing a pot from the side of the fireplace full of the same ashy powder the boys had sent me.

"But Harry's never traveled by floo powder before, mum." Ron said, she told him to go first. Ron stood in the fireplace and said 'Diagon Alley' and was engulfed in bright green flames.

"Now you Harry, don't forget to speak very clearly. Come along now." Harry completely butchered Diagon Alley, saying something like 'Digenuerrly' I rolled my eyes.

"I'll go get him." I said the exact same thing as Harry and threw down the floo powder. I came sliding out of a low fireplace and knocked Harry off his feet. I helped him up and grabbed my knapsack from under a vicious looking table with claws.

"What'd you do to your glasses?" I smiled at him as he shrugged.

"Clumsy, I guess."

"You can say that again, 'Diagurn elly'? What are you, American?" We laughed and looked around. Harry touched a dried up looking hand and it grabbed him. I bolted over and helped him pry it off.

"Let's go, this place give me the creeps." Harry said as we rushed out the door. We were met by a group of freaky looking people that surrounded us. I pushed Harry behind me and pulled out my wand.

"Stand down." I said with a shake creeping into my voice.

"Nora! Harry! What are you two doing down here?" Hagrid boomed. The crowd parted and my guardian shooed us out of Knocturn Alley.

"Hagrid, what were _you_ doing down there?" I asked him, he hesitated before answering.

"I was down there looking for flesh-eating slug repellant, they're eating all the school cabbages." Hermione was walking out of a shop in front of us.

"Hermione!" Harry and I said with a smile. She ran over to greet us.

"Nora! Harry… what did you do to your glasses?" She said with a smirk as she pulled out her wand. The twins were waving at me from the book store. I told my friends I'd see them soon. The two red heads pulled me into the crowded book shop.

"What's going on?" I stepped on a stack of books to see over the people.

A blond man in powder blue robes was in front of everyone. He was the author of the books I was standing on; I could tell by the picture moving on the cover. I rolled my eyes as he pulled Harry up to give him his entire collected works. The twins and I were looking over his autobiography and the stories he was telling sounded familiar. I'd been spending a lot of time down in Hogsmead and around the other towns near Hogwarts. I enjoyed listening to the stories some of the wizards and witches told. I was sure that I had seen this Gilderoy Lockhart around somewhere before. Come to think of it, those magic folk had been rumored to have gone mad after their great adventures. I snapped the book shut and put it back on the table. I saw Malfoy leer at me from the steps. He pulled out a page in the book he was thumbing through and folded it up. He stomped down the steps just as Harry walked back to us. I was weary of this exchange. I was not exactly what one would call 'civil' when it came to that greasy little weasel.

"Bloody Harry Potter, can't even go to a bookshop without making the papers." Malfoy sneered. Ginny spoke up.

"You leave him alone." Malfoy grinned evilly.

"Got yourself a girlfriend, do you Potter?" He laughed and a man who could only be his father walked up behind him.

"Now Draco, we mustn't make a scene." Malfoy senior looked at Harry with thinly veiled disgust. "Mr. Potter, if I may?" He gesture with his snake walking stick to Harry's forehead and pushed the hair away to look at the scar. "That scar is legend, as is the wizard who gave it to you."

Harry straightened his back and said, "Voldemort killed my parents, he was nothing more than a murderer." Lucius Malfoy sneered at us and I saw where his son got it from.

"Think you are so brave, using his name in public?" I moved to confront him but the twins held me back. They were messing around in the pockets of my knapsack. I felt them press something into my palm, I glanced down and it was a dung bomb. They squeezed my shoulder.

"Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself." Hermione said bravely.

"You must be Miss Granger, Draco has told me all about you… and your parents." She glanced over at couple of muggles talking to Mr. Weasley. He turned on Ron and Ginny. "Red hair, vacant expression," he pulled Ginny's used spell book out of her cauldron and sneered. "Tatty second hand books, you must be the Weasleys." I glared at him, wishing I could melt a human being with my mind. He met my eyes and he was shocked, it was plain to see on his face. "What? Who are you?"

"Renora," he looked expectantly at me, his tone becoming testy.

"Last name?" I shrugged.

"I don't talk to strangers." Arthur came over and ushered us out quickly. I slipped the dung bomb into Lucius Malfoy's pocket and the twins and I pressed our faces up against the glass as we watched the chaos ensue. It exploded with a billowing cloud of stink and brown smoke. Fred, George, and I all ran down the street before anyone could come after us. The twins hoisted me up onto their shoulders and cheered for my utter stupidity and lack of common sense. I laughed with them.


	4. Chamber of Secrets part 2

I was packing all my school supplies into my knapsack to take back with me. Hagrid had consented to let me stay one more day at the Burrow with Harry and the Weasleys. I had asked Professor Flitwick to teach me an undetectable extension charm on my bag so I would be able to fit all sorts of things in there and I had done it quite well. I mean, I did lose things occasionally, but they came back when I used the proper spell to call them. The twins knocked at Ginny's door and I told them to come in. I was wearing my pajamas, well they were actually the Weasleys' old clothes: an old shirt from a long forgotten Quidditch match and a pair of pajama bottoms that I had to roll up on account of me being so much shorter than the lot of them. They drug me out of the room and up to theirs.

"You were bloody brilliant today, you know that?" They grinned at me. I smirked.

"You two handed me the dung bomb, so don't act like it was all me."

"We thought you were just going to put it by them, not that you were going to put it in a Death Eater's pocket!" I pulled a quilt off of one of the beds and wrapped it around my shoulders as I sat down.

"He was being a jerk. I thought it'd bring him down a few pegs." They clapped me on the shoulder and laughed.

I curled up on their floor rug and we went over some of their ideas for pranks products. I told them that they should sell some of them. There had to be kids all over who wanted high quality pranks and gags. They got really excited about that idea. I fell asleep in a pile of blankets and pillows I had taken from the twins' beds and curled in front of their stove. I felt them gingerly pick all their notebooks and rough sketches from under and around me before they went to bed.

I yawned and rolled over to hear Molly screech. I bolted up. She was standing in the doorway. The twins groggily rolled over to see what the commotion was about. "George and Fred Weasley! How dare you!" Molly swooped in and grabbed me from my nice warm pile of blankets and pillows.

"What?" The twins asked rubbing their eyes.

"You slept with a girl in your room who is you little brother's age!"

"Mum, she was on to floor." Fred pointed out.

"Mum, nothing happened." George held up his hands in defense.

"Molly, I just fell asleep up here, that's all." She glared at the boys and shooed me out of the room.

"Come along dear, we'll get you a spot of breakfast before Hagrid comes to pick you up."

"Is Harry going to stay here until term starts?" I asked her as she sat me down at the table.

"I would think so! That 'family' of his is right dreadful. I don't know why Dumbledore doesn't just let him stay with us. We have the room." She said with a shake of her head at the wrong doings of the Dursleys. She went to waving her wand and cooking breakfast. The rest of the family tromped down, half asleep. The twins sat on either side of me and I leaned my head on George's shoulder. He tried not to move it as he passed the bowls of food past me. I leaned up and shoved some pancakes into my mouth. A drop of syrup was on the corner of my lips and as I reached to grab a napkin, Fred wiped it off with his thumb. I looked at him blankly but he was already back to eating. It was too early to try and decide to understand boys, especially the Weasley twins. Harry and Ron looked even worse than I did. I heard a rumbling sound of Hagrid's motorbike. My guardian squeezed into the kitchen and I waved at him.

"Hagrid, can I get you anything?" Molly asked.

"No thank ya', Molly. Well, I may take a cup of coffee." Molly rummaged around and brought out a pot she filled with coffee and handed to Hagrid.

"There you are dear. Nora, why don't you run up and get changed?" I shoved another pancake in my mouth and raced up to Fred and George's room and grabbed my backpack. I dug down into the depths of my bag and pulled out a dress I had found in one of the many abandoned rooms of Hogwarts on my exploration using the Marauder's Map the twins left me. Of course I had tailored the old fashioned dress to be knee-length with more fuffera. I ripped a brush though my knotted hair and folded my borrowed clothes up. The twins knocked and burst in. They both hugged me at the same time like they always did.

"Guys, I'll see you in a couple of weeks. I have to step up my game though, there's still loads of passages I haven't used yet."

"You better keep that map safe. It took us ages to figure out how to use it." Fred picked up my bag and handed it to me.

"Boys! Nora! Get down here now!" I walked slowly down the steps and sighed. I hugged Harry. Ron awkwardly shook my hand. I hugged him when he let go. Molly chuckled and squeezed me tight and handed me a parcel of food to take with me. She leaned down to fix my sleeve and whispered.

"We both know that Hagrid is full of good intentions, but not cooking capabilities." I smiled and she nodded.

"Ready to go, Nora?" Hagrid said squeezing out the door. I got to the doorway and turned.

"Bye, Weasleys. Bye Harry!" I tossed my backpack into the sidecar and grabbed my goggles. I had turned them scarlet and gold in one of my transfiguration classes and kept them that way.

Hagrid started the bike with a rumble. He nodded at me, grinded the bike to life, and flew up into the sky for a long trip back to Hogwarts. I sighed and enjoyed the warm sun on my face and the breeze through my hair.

"How is Andi doing?" I asked Hagrid.

"Doing well. She looks for you around every corner though, even got in a bit of trouble with old Filch over that little bit of fur she pulled out of the cat when they were playing."

"Has she been sleeping on her pedestal?"

"Every night, I know Dumbledore told you how important that was, so I made sure of it."

"Thanks Hagrid, you're the best." I leaned back and closed my eyes.

I must had fallen asleep because I woke up to the smell of the Black Lake and the lights of Hogwarts shining in front of us. We careened down the hill and came to a sliding stop in front of the hut. I jumped out and clomped up the steps. I hung my bag on the corner of my roughly hewn bed post and flopped down on my bed, picking up a book I had on werewolves. Hagrid came in and asked me if I wanted some tea.

"Yeah, I'm starving actually." My stomach grumbled and I went to get something to eat out of the many jars and baskets hanging around the room. I gnawed on one of the rock like cakes Hagrid makes and went back to reading as Hagrid fixed the tea. While he wasn't what I would call a good cook, Hagrid did try so I taught him a few basic tips and secretly picked him up a cook book for beginners in Diagon Alley so we wouldn't have to continue to live on hard cake and strange sandwiches. Andi cooed and swooped in the open window. She perched on my head board and rubbed her head against my cheek in greeting. "Hey there, girl, did you have fun with old Mrs. Norris?" She curled up on my bed and nodded slowly. I propped my book up against my phoenix.

"Whatchya reading over there, Nora?" Hagrid asked as he poured some tea into a chipped bowl. He did not own a big enough teacup for himself.

"A book on werewolves. Did you know that the Wolfsbane Potion was created by the uncle of a kid who goes to school at Hogwarts?"

"I did not." He brought over the tea tray to the table and I sat down on the barrel that I had claimed as my seat. I sipped my hot tea and noticed something sticking out of one of the pockets of my knapsack. I reached over and pulled out a packet of sketches of possible gags for the twins with notes from both of them on what they thought and questions they wanted to ask me about their projects. I smiled and tucked them back in the pocket. An owl fluttered in and dropped a parcel on my bed. Hagrid petted the bird before it took off. I opened the little box and inside was a ring with a plain blue stone. A note in the bottom said it was from Sawyer. He had been to an American wizard joke shop with his parents while I was at the Burrows and thought about me. I put it on and admired it. It was supposed to shock people when I touched them. I took it off and put it back in the box, setting it up on my shelf.

"You seem very… popular with the boys." Hagrid said with an awkward tone.

"Hagrid, we're just friends." He hid beneath his hair and poured some more brandy into his tea.

"I see, I see." I told him that I was going to go back to reading when he went out to patrol the grounds on his nightly circuit with Fang.

I pulled out my mirror and called for Harry. The surface rippled and my best friend was staring back at me.

"Hey Nora!"

"Staying out of trouble Harry? No more house elves in your midst?" He shook his head, I hear a thundering of feet.

"Never," he grinned when he looked to his left. "I think you have a few admirers who wish to speak to you, m'lady." He laughed and tossed the mirror up to the two redheaded twins.

"Hey Nora! Long time no see." They said with a wink.

"What do you want me to do with this pile of fire kindling?" I grabbed the papers out of my backpack.

"Why do you hurt us so, Nora Black?" I rolled my eyes.

"You two really need to get over your unhealthy obsession with me. I just left your house and you've commandeered Harry's mirror to speak with me again. It's enough to make a girl swoon." I stuck my tongue out at them and they laughed.

"We just needed another set of eyes to look over our plans before we started working on them, so you flatter yourself too much." I shook my head and they tossed the mirror back to Harry. We continued the conversation about the house elf, Dobby, who had shown up in his room the other day.

Before I knew it, Harry was yawning and I was having a hard time staying awake. I told him good night and to have fun at the Burrow. I would have given anything to be able to stay there as long as Harry got to.

I was going for a walk with Andi soaring above me. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going until I heard hooves pounding the ground. I looked around and saw a centaur glaring at me from the shadows of a large oak tree.

"Hello."

"You are on the Centaurs' land."

"I was just taking a walk, I'll leave." I turned to go back the way I came. "Well, which way is Hogwarts?"

"Usually students don't wander out this far. Why have you come here?" He asked pawing the ground anxiously.

"I told you, I just went out for some fresh air." Andi landed on my shoulder and watched the half-horse half-man just as analytically as the centaur was watching her.

"You are no normal witch." I curtsied in my emerald green dress with glittering tights.

"Thank you for noticing." He snorted at my display.

"I mean you do not act afraid of me."

"Why should I? You haven't done anything to frighten me or hurt me, so I don't see why I should be afraid of you." He moved closer to me and his body was a glistening chestnut color with a few dapples of white on his back.

"You are very strange."

"Says the boy who is horse from the waist down." I pulled my hair to the side and braided it.

"You have a phoenix."

"That wasn't a question," Andi scratched her face with a talon.

"How?" The curious boy moved forward casually.

"It was a present. Took a bloody long time to train her though." Andi nipped at my ear, "Bugger off, you blasted bird."

"May I touch her?" He outstretched his hand to touch my phoenix.

"You can try." The bird looked untrustingly at the centaur's hand and after a tense moment leaned forward to consent for him to touch her feathers. "I'm Nora, by the way."

"I am Gisborne." Andi cooed softly when the centaur scratched the back of her neck.

"It's nice to meet you." He looked at me and I looked into his bronze eyes.

We stood there looking at each other for what seemed like hours until he spoke again.

"Would you like to see something amazing?" He said softly.

"I thought you would never ask." He kneeled down. "What are you doing?" I asked him, tossing Andi into the air and she took off to soar on the warm summer breeze.

"Allowing you to ride me."

"What?" I shook my head. "You shouldn't. If your herd sees you with a human they will be very angry."

"They will not see." The look in his solemn eyes made me trust him.

"If you insist." I clambered onto his back and wrapped my arms around his waist.

"Hold on, Nora." He galloped off through the forest. I held on tighter when he jumped across a stream. We came out of the forest on a cliff overlooking the Black Lake. The sun shown over the surface making it like a mirror.

"Wow," I said softly, twirling around in the brisk breeze. I smiled at Gisborne.

"It is quite beautiful."

"Yes, it is." He kneeled down and I leaned against his body, feeling the heart of a man beat inside.

We sat and talked for hours. Andi lazily flew around and would drop out of the sky to catch a vole or fish. He asked me all about school and what I did with the other students. He wanted to know what books I liked to read and how much I knew of astrology. The sunset was really beautiful as we watched it together. The stars came out and he pointed out planets and constellations.

"I'm not very good at remembering all the stars and planets." I admitted, moving closer to his warmth.  
He pointed up at the sky and traced a constellation, naming it. I heard someone yelling for me; Hagrid. Gisborne looked at me. "I believe it's time for you to return to the land of men." He grabbed me up and effortlessly swung me up onto his back and we took off, darting along the shore of the lake. He slowed at the edge of the dark forest. He kneeled down and I slid off. Andi landed on my shoulder and I waved goodbye to Gisborne.

"I'll see you again." I told him as he walked away, he turned.

"That doesn't sound like a question." He said, a hint of smile in his voice.

"It wasn't," I laughed.

I sighed as I hung up yet another picture of Gilderoy Lockhart on the walls of the defense against the Dark Arts classroom with a little more force than was necessary.

"Renora, dear, do be more careful. I am quiet precious." I glared at the talking painting and let it drop back into the box. Professor Lockhart burst out of his office, a sparkling grin on his face. "How was that for a grand entrance?"

"Exactly like the last twelve times you did it."

"Ah, do you think that I am practicing too much? Well let me tell you, I didn't defeat the Vitruvian Vampires without a little practice."

"That's not even a thing. 'Vitruvian Vampires'?" I asked him from where I was leaning on the physical manifestation of his ego, the box full of self-portraits painting self-portraits of himself. "I've never seen a vampire, but I don't think that you could actually take one in a fight."

"Well," he sniffed, "I don't like your tone. I am still your professor, Renora."

"It's just Nora, and I've read your books. They seem like a load of codswallow to me." I said as I slammed the door to his classroom. I couldn't take any more of that man. I burst out the school and hurried across the yard to the Black Lake. Gisborne told me he wanted to see me before I had to go officially back to school tomorrow. I had neglected to tell anyone about my centaur friend. Andi cawed and flew high above me. I grabbed my backpack from where I had stashed it in a crack in a boulder. I raced up to the rock that jutted out over the water, and sat down in the warm afternoon sun to wait for Gisborne to meet me. The centaurs were riled up lately, they felt a shift in the atmosphere. I leaned back and rested my head on my backpack. An owl came to skidding stop next to me. I grabbed the ragged bird before it slid off into the water. It was the Weasley's owl, Errol. I took the letter from him and he collapsed from the exhaustion of the long flight.

The letter was from the twins.

_Dear Nora, _

_Have you got any wet-start no-heat fireworks left? It seems Fred and I neglected to get enough to get us through the school year. We can't wait to get in trouble with you this year. Don't lose the Marauder's Map between today and tomorrow. _

_Don't tell him we told you, but we think Ron may have a crush on you. He's turned into Ginny, talking about you and asking after you all the time. I'm sure Harry will be heartbroken that the only man for you is a Weasley. _

_Love,_

_George and Fred._

_P.S. Don't have too much fun with Lockhart without us. _

I heard the soft click of Gisborne's hooves on the rock. I stood up and smiled at him. I reached into my backpack to give him the bracelet I had made from Andi's feathers when she got them pulled out by Mrs. Norris while they were playing. I reached out to give it to him but there was a look of anger on his usually cool features.

"What's wrong, Gisborne?" He refused to meet my eyes.

"I think it would be in your best interest if we stay away from eahc if we go back to the way it was before. Stay off Centaur land for your safety." I dropped the bracelet and grabbed my knapsack.

I tried to contain my anger. "I know they are telling you to say that. They found out, didn't they, your herd." I brushed past him. He turned to watch me go. "You should have stood up for yourself. We are friends and nothing will change that." He met my eyes and I held his heartbreaking gaze.

"You know nothing, witch, of the ways of centaurs. Do not act as if you have any right to speak to me that way." I ran away. Andi swooped down and grabbed my shoulders, pulling me up into the air. With a fiery display and a slight pop we apparated to the school grounds. I dropped to my knees. That had felt like being squeezed through a pipe and dropped onto the ground. Andi walked over and looked at me, nudging me with her beak. I looked up and gave her a sad smile.

"You did well, Andromeda." I stroked her head. I stood up and trudged up to castle to go to my secret room. I saw Professor Dumbledore talking to McGonagall and I made a break for a secret passageway to the tower I was headed for, but he called me over. I stood in front of him, the transfiguration professor bid us good day and took her leave.

"Nora, you seem troubled." I shrugged. I rubbed my eyes, I wouldn't cry.

"It's nothing Professor. Just getting teary-eyed for the end of the holidays." He didn't believe me.

"I've heard that you aren't getting on very well with the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, is that correct?"  
"He's a sham, sir. I've been down to the Hogsmead and heard from associates of the wizards and witches that _actually_ defeated the monsters in his books." Dumbledore nodded, "After they went on their adventures, they went mad."

"You are very bright, Nora."

"I just have a lot of time to read." Andi swooped in and perched on one of the stone buttresses.

"I have seen you spending quite a lot of time in the Dark Forest. Not taking too much after your friends the Weasley twins, are you?"

"No, not yet sir." I said with a wink.

"Well, I will let you be on your way, I just wanted to make sure that everything was fine with you on this beautiful day." He walked away, humming.

I took my time climbing the stairs up to my secret hideaway. I sighed and wrote back to the twins, I'd find an owl before dinner to send it back. Errol was probably still snoozing around on the rock.

I sat at the piano, looked at the keys, and played a melancholy chord.

_Gisborne was no longer speaking to me. _

I changed my finger position and hit the same chord, this time adding a few deep bass notes with my left hand.

_How had the herd found out that he was spending time with me?_

I clanged the keys together in an ugly screech.

"What if he really just didn't want to spend any more time with me?" I said quietly. I shook my head and went back to playing my lonely sad song that reminded me of receding hoof beats. Andi sat perched on the unused fireplace mantle and preened her feathers.


	5. Chamber of Secrets part 3

"You! You did this! You wanted to make the Ministry look incompetent!" I shook my head. I saw his wand shaking in his fist. I tried to get my wand from its place in my backpack.

"I told you about it! Why the _hell_ would I tell you about an attack I was _a part of_?" He shook me so hard my teeth clattered. I grabbed onto his wrists and dug my nails in.

"You're going to the Ministry for questioning. Bagman! Find someone to escort Black to a holding cell." Ludo was very conflicted. He grunted, "Arthur, if you could, I think it'd be best if you did it." Everyone was quiet Arthur tried to protest but Fudge was still turning red. I saw a green shower of sparks and it turned into a skull with a snake coming out of its mouth. I pointed and everyone gasped.

"You going to blame that on me too!?" I yelled. Arthur looked scared.

"The others…" I looked at Ludo.

"Can you take me, Mr. Bagman? Arthur needs to get my friends safe." Arthur looked at me and hugged me.

"I'll get you out soon." I shrugged. At least they weren't sending me to Azkaban. Ludo took me and we apparated.

I was dropped into the laps of some Aurors who didn't look very busy. Ludo went back to the World Cup. I was photographed holding a sign and wearing a very fed up smirk. I knew that would be plastered all over the Daily Prophet tomorrow. The Aurors' took my backpack and put me in a room to wait for them to question to me. A rough looking old man with a batty eye hobbled in with a noble looking African wizard. They sat across from me. I was leaning back in my chair with my dirty cold feet on the table. I took them down and looked at the wizards.

"Hello, Ms. Black, I've heard a lot about you." The African wizard said softly.

"When can I leave?" I asked, rubbing my eyes.

"When you've answered the questions we're about to ask ya, that's when." Mad Eye Moody said.

I leaned on the table. "Which eye should I look at to see if you're talking to me or not?" I said.

"I think I'll like this girl." He leaned back in his chair.

"Shall we begin? We've had a long night as I'm sure you have, too." I nodded.

"Can't I just tell you what happened?" They looked at each other and shrugged.

"I suppose that will work."

"I was walking around the World Cup and saw a group of 'prestigious purebloods' we all know the group of which I speak, talking in a very suspicious manner. I informed the Minister of this, he was unreceptive. My friend and I distracted the Death Eaters while the Ministry Officials rescued the muggles."

"You're very brave for such a young girl."

"I'm also reckless, bull headed, dangerous, and funny. You're behind the ball on 'brave'." I stood up.

"May I leave now?"

"Sit _down._" I did and pulled my hair out of my face.

"Did you really subdue a group of grown Death Eaters with fireworks and dye bombs?"

"And dung bombs. I would assume that if you went knocking on doors on your suspects you would find several men with blue, pink, green, and red skin."

Moody was laughing heartily. "This girl really will be the end of the Ministry, but it'll get things done!"

I was taken to a holding cell where I could see two Aurors who were reading the Daily Prophet.

"Oy!" I yelled. The nearest dark wizard catcher. "Can you tell me something?" He looked up at me with a sour look.

"What do you want, Black?" He spat.

"Were you here when my father was arrested?" He shook his head but yelled at the other Auror because he had been.

"I was, yeah."

"Tell me, what made you look at a finger and say, 'you know what, Sirius Black was a great wizard so he obviously did such a soddy job at destroying this man and killing twelve Muggles that Pettigrew must be dead because _we have his finger_." The Aurors looked at me like I was a pile of rubbish. I crossed my arms and smirked again. "You obviously had enough evidence to convict a man to Azkaban." Arthur and Remus burst into the room.

"Nora!" They both said. I smiled. Remus came to talk to me while Arthur bargained for my release. Moody came in from his office when the men started arguing.

"Shut up!" He boomed, banging his staff on the floor, it spat out red sparks. "The only thing this girl is guilty of is being smarter than you worthless sods." He glared at the Aurors and they glared back.

"Take her, I'm sure the Minister will be watching her closely." Moody put a hand on my shoulder.

"You have to cooperate and do some… services for the ministry, there will be a letter arriving to outline this in more detail. Constant Vigilance, Renora, you have immense potential." He handed me my backpack.

Remus gave me an earful about my tongue with authority figures as we walked to the fireplaces in the main hall.

"Remus…" I groaned. "I was _polite_ and he _still_ attacked me. I just want to go to The Burrow and go to bed. I'm exhausted." Arthur put a hand on my shoulder.

"There's a good chance that Molly will make you stay up and eat hot cakes because she'll think you've wasted away while incarcerated." I sighed. My eyelids were getting heavy.

"Fine." I hugged Remus. He smoothed my wild hair down. "Nora, I fear you're going to end up here a lot more than you should."

"I don't think they could handle me in here very often."

* * *

When I stumbled out of the chimney, the twins were sleeping in the living room. I sighed and went to change. My poor dress was filthy. I would have to scour it with all sorts of enchantments later to clean it but I was so tired. I changed in the kitchen and used a towel to clean my face, Arthur appeared and I put my finger to my lips. I went to the living room and curled up on one of the dilapidated couches and pulled the knitted blanket up around me. I closed my eyes and went to sleep. I was deep in slumber when I felt someone brush a lock of my hair out of my face. I didn't open my eyes.

"Freddie, stop bothering her, she's had a long night. We can work on WWW until she wakes up." Fred sighed.

"She's too reckless, but Fudge is a twat… treating her the way he does." My blanket was pulled up more.

"You keep acting like that and there's no amount of lying you can do to convince yourself you don't love her." George laughed and I heard the rustle of papers.

"I do love her… as a sister, the same way you love her!" George snorted.

"Uh-huh, you love her the same way Ginny loves Harry like a brother." Fred walked away and I heard him grumble something. I rolled over and went back to sleep.

A few hours later I decided I better wake up, the house, except for the living room was buzzing with action. I walked into the kitchen in my pajamas printed with little fluttering snitches. I went to get a drink and Molly saw me.

"Sit down! Sit down! I'll get you everything, just sit." I rested my head on my hand and sighed.

"Nora!" The twins came thundering down the stairs. They pulled up chairs on either side of me and started bombarding me with questions. I answered a few until Bill and Charlie came in and told them to sod off and let me eat. The twins didn't leave but they let me eat. I was shoveling the eggs and sausage into my mouth as fast as I could because I was starving.

* * *

"So you were still being snarky with the Aurors." Fred and George asked me as I got dressed behind a blanket I hung over a stretched rope in Ron's room. I tossed the dresses out of my back pack that I needed to wash.

"Yeah, they had an attitude and I didn't feel like putting up with it." I growled when I realized I didn't have any clean clothes. I pulled my Bulgarian dress and some black striped tights. I pulled down the blanket and gathered up my clothes in my arms. I slid down the bannister to Mrs. Weasley doing the wash in the garden. I put my dresses into the pile and started hanging up the clean clothes to dry. The twins fooled around while they were helping. I struggled to reach the high side of the line. Fred leaned from behind me and pinned it to the line. I felt my cheeks get hot. His hand grazed the small of my back.

"Thanks, Freddie." I moved away quickly and finished hanging the first big load of clothes.

* * *

I was sitting in a train car arguing with Lee Jordan over how well Ludo Bagman did at commentating the World Cup. Thatch was writing in his journal like always. I leaned back and read his pretty handwriting.

"Oh? You're chronicling my brush with the law for your memoirs huh?" He nodded. I leaned over and Fred and George were arguing about where the exploding gobsmackers belonged, the incendiary section or the trick candy section of the order form.

"They go in the candy section, the fact you can throw them and they catch on fire is just a plus. Where are we on the Finch Fudges?" We kept talking about the different problems. The twin's had filled my backpack up with skiving snack boxes and I told them that unless we could work the kinks out we couldn't put them on the order form. Some of the stuff they originally wanted was actually dangerous and I had completely shut them down. Pranking should be fun, not deadly. I left them and went back to talking to Thatcher.

"You didn't happen to get my record player from your tent, did you?" He nodded, not looking up from his notebook. Andi appeared in a quick flash of flame. She looked rather smug with a half-eaten licorice wand in her mouth.

"Yeah, it's in my trunk, I'll get it back to you when we unpack." My phoenix curled up in my lap and gulped down her treat.

"Did you steal that, you blasted bird?" She wouldn't look at me. Lee Jordan leaned over and gave her some of his jelly beans. I stroked her head and she made happy sounds.

When we got to the station, Hagrid hollered hello. I waved. Fred, George, Lee, Thatcher, and I all squeezed into one of the covered wagons. It had a slightly musty smell. It was dark, it was raining hard against the windows. I rubbed my eyes.

We walked into the Great Hall. I hugged Neville who handed me a potted flower that hadn't bloomed. "Thanks… Neville."

"Its moon beam rose." I turned the pot in my hands.

"Its… a nice flower."

"It only blooms during the full moon." I looked up at him and I smirked. "Because of your newly acquired full moon habits." It was true, during the full moon everyone knew it was best to leave me alone because I was always grumpy and in pain.

George and Fred had taken to spending the night with me somewhere no one could hear us. We built a tree house at the Burrow and went up to my secret music room when we were at school. It was always painful. Feeling like I was half human and half wolf but never fully either when there was a full moon. There were nights when all I could do was whimper and the twins would both pull me into their laps and try and sooth me. I tried to get away from them so they didn't have to see me go through that every month but they always found me.

It was hard when I was traveling with Sirius. He'd seen how hard the transformation was on Remus and when we were down in the tropics he was helpless. He'd rock me back and forth. One night, on a very bad night, he cried and I just fought harder to control my shaking.

He wrote to Remus and Remus had no idea how to make it better. He suggested Wolfsbane potion but when I talked to Snape about it, he was dubious. It didn't stop the transformation but it did tame the wolf. I tried it but to no avail. I resigned myself to suffering one night a month.

I sat next to George and Neville. Fred had invited Angelina over and she sat between the twins. I turned my back so I didn't see my spot being taken by someone else. My ears turned red. Neville asked me about getting arrested. I shrugged.

"Oy! Black!" Malfoy swaggered over, a copy of the Daily Prophet rolled in his hands. "I got this recently and was wondering if you could sign this." He held out the issue with my mugshot plastered on the front. I turned around and crossed my arms.

"Malfoy, I'm flattered that you kept this paper just for my picture." He rolled his eyes.

"Actually, I thought it was the best picture I'd seen, surprised you aren't still behind bars for what you've been saying about the Ministry."

"You mean what I've been saying about your dad, right? You couldn't give a damn what I was saying about the Ministry." Everyone's conversations had stopped. I stood up.

"At least my father isn't a mad mass murderer." I smiled.

"At least my father loves me, Draco." He turned red.

"Attention!" Dumbledore boomed. I sat down and George nudged me. I looked up at him and he smiled.

He leaned close to my ear, "I swear, if anyone else had your wit and half your nerve… they'd've taken over the world by now." I blushed and leaned against him. He pinched my side and I jolted away. We watched the first years get sorted. I cheered for the new Gryffindors. I was happy. I was back at Hogwarts with my friends, there wasn't anything that would be coming after Harry this year. I could be free to my own devices for once.

That is until Dumbledore decided to make another announcement and I saw Barty Crouch in behind the table.

"It's my honor to tell you all that the House Quidditch Cup will not be happening this year." Fred, George, Harry, and Angelina all looked at each other, shocked. I covered my eyes. I hoped this didn't have to do with the thing everyone had been hinting at all summer. Percy had been very smug about the fact that he knew something that involved us and we didn't.

A quick word on the Nora/Percy relations. After he heard how I was treated at the World Cup, he'd stopped being so unbearable towards me, although I was sure he thought I deserved it. Mr. Crouch and the Minister would never be that brash and violent without reason.

I drank my pumpkin juice and shoved a whole crème puff in my mouth. I didn't want to have anything violent or dangerous happen this year. There was a deafening roll of thunder in the great hall and everyone looked at the large oak doors that had banged open. Moody was standing there, except… he seemed different. I couldn't put my finger on it. The way he carried himself, the set of his shoulders. When he walked, he acted like his metal foot was too heavy and a new weight for him.

"Eh, isn't that one of the guys who questioned you?" George asked. I nodded.

"He's acting… weird, though…" George looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

"Nora, he's as mad as a bloody hatter, I'm sure he acts weird all the time."

"Alistair!" Dumbledore greeted him and he took his seat at the table. The not-mad-eye pulled out a flask and swigged something that I was immediately suspicious about. "As I was saying, this year, Hogwarts will be the host of the Tri-Wizard tournament."

"You've got to be JOKING!" I said loudly. I'd read about it. My Ministry approved service would have to be setting up these bloody tasks. That's what Moody was talking about.

"I am certainly _not_ joking, Ms. Black. But, since we're on the topic… I heard a rather funny one this summer about a hag, a leprechaun, and a troll that walk into a pub…" He was cut off and resumed his original train of thought. "Oh yes, Tri-wizard tournament…" Dumbledore went on to talk about the history of the competition. I sunk lower in my seat. I put my head on the table when the words 'death toll' came out. I perked up considerably when he said only students seventeen and older could put their names in for consideration. I almost cheered while Fred grumbled and George became irate. We were dismissed and Fred and George stood, glaring at Dumbledore.

"It's not fair, we're seventeen in April. It's not going to stop me from putting my name in anyway. We'll do it together, George." The twins looked very determined.

"A thousand Galleon prize, what do you think we could do with a thousand galleons with WWW, Nora?" Fred asked. The spark in his eye made me sigh because I knew how much they both wanted to open a brick and mortar store in Diagon Alley.

"But you're not seventeen, so you can't enter the contest. We'll find the money somewhere else, and as for the 'Glory' of winning to competition, name one previous Champion, doesn't even have to have won before. No one will remember you that long anyway." I looked at Harry and breathed a sigh of relief. Harry wouldn't be able to enter the contest so he could stay out of it this year. He grinned back at me too. We'd talked about the fact that he was always walking into trouble or it was finding him. This year could have been a nice normal year.


	6. Chamber of Secrets part 4

I told Harry I had to go to the library. I ran up the stairs and scoured the shelves for the book I needed. I hid myself in a nook by a window, ferociously flipping through pages on books about snakes. It only made sense that Salazar Slytherin would put a giant killer snake in the Chamber.

"-it's very hard. I've never seen a more complicated potion." I heard Hermione say quietly as she flipped through a book. I peeked through the shelves and saw her bushy brown hair between the books.

Ron and Harry looked at her, befuddled.

"So if we drink this, Harry and I'll turn into Crabbe and Goyle?" Ron asked.

"Yes, but it will take some time to get all of the ingredients."

"How long?" Harry said, combing through his hair with his fingers.

"A month." Hermione consented sadly.

"A month?" I mouthed quietly, they were talking about Polyjuice potion, and I could brew that up in a few days.

"Hermione, Draco could kill half the Muggle-borns in the school by then!" Harry stressed.

"I know." I walked around the shelves and smiled at them.

"Not to take away your independence, but I could help you get some of those supplies, if you want." I said with a crooked grin.

* * *

Harry was playing Quidditch in the first match of the season against who else, Slytherin.

"Go Harry!" I cheered. Seamus grabbed onto the back of my robes as I hung over the railing, waving a Gryffindor flag. I stepped back and continued to cheer.

"Why do you have to be so reckless, Nora?" He insisted, I felt the warmth of his hand through my cloak.

"Life's too short to not live dangerously, Finnegan." I noticed one of the Bludgers going after Harry much more aggressively than usual.

I made my way through the crowd, keeping an eye on Harry.

"That's been tampered with." I mumbled and pulled out my wand, keeping it pressed to my side as I climbed down to the ground level.

I saw Harry and Malfoy dip down into the gulley surrounding the pitch. My friend came back up as Malfoy rolled on the ground. The bludger hit Harry's arm really hard and knocked off his arm pad. Harry grabbed the snitch and fell to the ground. I ran out onto the field and dropped down beside him.

"Nora!" Harry pushed me away and turned on his side as the Bludger pounded into the sand.

"Finete incantato!" I yelled and the Bludger blew up into dust. I supported Harry's head.

"I-I think my arm's broken." I looked down and it looked like it was swelling and it was surely twisted at a wrong angle.

People crowded around us. Lockhart came over and told him that he could fix his arm in and instant.

I stood between them, "Sir, you are going to fail horribly if you try, so don't. Madame Pomfrey can fix it in an instant." I was trying to be respectful.

"Don't be so foolish, Ms. Black, I can mend bones faster than that." He pushed me out of the way and cast a nonsensical spell. Harry's arm went slack and Lockhart bent his wrist back like it was a licorice wand.

I pushed him out of the way and helped Harry up. "You're a bloody idiot, Lockhart. You took all the bones out of his arm!" I glared at him as I walked Harry to the infirmary.

"I'm going to hex him and his stupid teeth." I grumbled as Madame Pomfrey bustled out to get something to regrow Harry's bones.

Harry was given a dose of vile smelling liquid which he proceeded to spit out in a fine spray, covering me. I sighed and wiped my face off with the sleeve of my jacket.

"What did you expect? Pumpkin juice?" Pomfrey snipped and poured him another dose. He swallowed it with a cringe. The twins grabbed my hands when we were told to leave Harry so he could get some rest.

I wanted to find out why that Bludger had attacked him. The house elf, the platform closing itself, and now the Chamber of Secrets? Something was very wrong at Hogwarts this year and I needed to find out what was going on.

"Nora," Fred whispered in my ear, making me jump. I looked around, not even realizing that the twins had pulled me into the One-Eyed Witch passageway.

"What?"

"What's going on?" They said in unison, blocking me from leaving or going to Hogsmead.

I sat down heavily on the cold, damp floor. The twins kneeled beside me.

"Have you ever had to do something so important that it just eats you up until you become that task?" I said quietly, casting a faint light down the corridor with my wand.

"No…" George sat down beside me, his warmth comfortable.

"I do, it's something I have to do by myself."

"Is that why Dumbledore calls you to his office all the time?"

"Most of it is for disciplinary referrals." Fred sat down on the other side of me, they were still wearing their Quidditch uniforms.

"Right now we won't press you for details, but you're going to have to tell us what the headmaster is making you do." Fred's arm snaked around me and something occurred to me. I jumped up.

"I have to go, I know what to do."

"What? Nora! You can't just run off like that. It's our thing!" The twins rushed out of the passage with me.

"You guys can't help me, it's too dangerous," they laughed and caught the back of my shirt.

"If it's too dangerous for us, being the mature upperclassmen that we are, we certainly cannot in good conscience let you do whatever it is you are doing." George and Fred latched onto me by wrapping their arms around my shoulders.

"Let me go." I snarled, trying to elbow them away from me.

Harry had already gotten hurt, I wouldn't let my best friends get hurt too. They looked at each other and sighed. "Nora, in all seriousness, what are you looking for?" They asked quietly as we made our way through the halls.

"I can't tell you, because you'll be in danger." I saw Dumbledore talking to Lockhart and both of the teachers looked at me. I glared at the bumbling idiot of a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I pulled away from the twins and sprinted to the library, finding the book I needed and hiding in the Restricted Section.

I was close to finding out what was in the Chamber. There was a mass exodus of spiders, the water, Mrs. Norris… I felt like I knew what it was, but it eluded me.

"Nora?" Someone asked from outside the grate.

"Neville?" I stood up and shut the book. I slipped out of the Restricted Section and Neville looked at me, confused.

"What were you doing in there?" He reached to take my book and I moved it away from him.

"In the words of Hermione, 'just a little light reading'." He laughed and escorted me to the Great Hall to eat lunch. I shimmied the thick book into my backpack and heard it knock over my stash of fireworks.

I sat down with Neville and he went on a babbling one sided conversation about how Professor Sprout had told him he could start doing a little extra herbology work with her since he was really interested in it.

I was staring into my soup and tuning out Neville unconsciously.

_Spiders, water, writing, Mrs. Norris… _I repeated it over and over again.

Someone tapped my shoulder and I jumped, dropping my spoon to splash gravy all over the place.

"Ms. Black, I think you and I need to have words about your attitude as of late." Snape had an air of annoyance about him.

"Fine." I put my spoon down and grabbed my backpack, telling Neville goodbye.

We walked in silence down to his potion classroom.

"Is this about me smarting off to Professor Lockhart?"

"Yes… and no." He sat down heavily in his chair.

"What is it?" I was aggravated and I wanted to figure out what was in that stupid Chamber of Secrets. I wanted Harry's arm to be fixed, I didn't want him to have to go through that pain.

"You need to learn to learn to hold your tongue around your elders." I pulled out my potions homework and dropped it on his desk.

He flipped through it and gave me a curt nod.

"What was the second half of this little heart to heart that I'm sure McGonagall put you up to?"

"I know that you are looking for the monster in the Chamber of Secrets." I nodded and looked in the cabinets for lace wing flies.

"Do you know what it is? Because it'd be absolutely fantastic if you could tell me. I feel like its right under my nose, but I just don't know what it is."

"Nora." I looked at him, he rarely used my first name. "Stop looking for the Chamber of Secrets."

"But Dumbledore-"

"It is a fool's errand you've been sent on by an old desperate man."

"Sir, I don't think that finding the Chamber of Secrets is a fool's errand. It's obvious that whatever is in there is dangerous and needs to be taken care of." I crossed my arms. "I'm not looking to go out and slay a dragon. I don't want to be front page news. I just want to help make my home a safer place."

"You consider this place your home?" He asked in a surprised tone, well as surprised as Snape's nasally voice could get.

"Of course I do, don't you?"

* * *

I couldn't sleep. Harry was all alone re-growing his bones in the infirmary. I slipped on my worn tennis shoes and snuck out of the dormitory.

I was almost to the stairs when I heard running water. My feet were soon soaked. I looked down and saw a person, still as stone lying in the middle of the rushing water.

Dropping to my knees, I felt for a pulse. There was none, but that didn't mean he was dead. I realized it was Colin Creevy, the first year who was always taking photos of Harry and everything else that captured his fancy.

I bit my lip and pulled out my wand. I conjured a fluttering paper crane and sent it off soaring quickly to the Headmaster. I shook Colin to try and get a response. I drug him out of the water and dried off his robes. He must have been freezing. I didn't know exactly what being petrified felt like. I guess I should have asked Neville after Hermione did it to him so they could escape to the vaults holding the Sorcerer's Stone. McGonagall, Snape, and Dumbledore came running up the steps, as I stood up.

"I found him like this, I was on my way to see Harry." No reason to lie now.

"We must get him to the Infirmary." I helped the professors carry Colin to the hospital. Madame Pomfrey ushered us to a bed.

Colin looked so small and young lying there. I _had _to find out about what was doing this to the students. I looked over at Harry. He was acting like he was asleep but I could tell he heard every word Dumbledore said about the Chamber of Secrets being open again and how Hogwarts was no longer safe.

When the teacher's left, I strolled over to Harry and sat down in the chair next to his bed.

"Drop the act, Harry James Potter." His eyes popped open quickly.

"Guess I'm a pretty bad fake sleeper, huh?" I nodded. "The Chamber of Secrets is real?"

"Yes." I looked at the disheveled state of his little hospital bed. "Was someone in here?"

Harry looked around to make sure no one could hear us in the dark infirmary. "That blasted House Elf, Dobby, was here. He's the one who closed off the gateway to Platform Nine and Three Quarters, and he's the one who sent that Bludger after me."

"Why?" I'd have to let that Elf have a piece of my mind.

"He knew about the plan to open the Chamber of Secrets."

"He wanted to keep you safe?" Maybe he wasn't all bad, but he sure had a way of helping Harry out.

"I guess, but he sure has a way of telling me to stay at Number Four Privet Drive."

"Get some sleep, Harry, I hear growing your arm back is a real pain in the neck." He rolled his eyes at me.

"Goodnight, Nora. Wait, that person you brought in, was that Colin?" I sighed.

"Yeah, I found him when I snuck out to see if you were okay."

"What is doing this?" I shrugged.

"You're going to have to figure that out because I'm stumped."

* * *

I had helped make a scene in Potions so Hermione could get the last ingredients for her Poly-juice potion. Throwing a filibuster firework into Crabbe's cauldron was the most fun thing I'd done for a long time. She refused to have me help her make the potion..

Now I was sitting in the Great Hall eating lunch with the twins and Neville. Fred and George were talking excitedly about their next prank, something to do with the prefects' bathroom and toilet seats. I tuned them out and kept mulling over what I knew about the monster in the Chamber of Secrets.

_Wet, Slytherin, Petrified, Creepy, and Hidden. _

"Nora!" The twins yelled at me.

"What!" I yelled back.

"You're not paying attention to us!" I nodded.

"You got that right. I don't feel good. I'm going to go lie down." I grabbed my books and stormed out.

The longer it took me to find out what was in the Chamber, the worse my attitude got. I was snippy and rude to a lot of people. I smarted off to Snape this morning and got another detention. It brought my grand total to about thirty since school started.

I was stewing all the way up to Gryffindor Tower. I wanted to find this thing before someone else got hurt. McGonagall walked around the corner and I tried not to cast such a dark cloud of hate.

"Miss Black, I'd assume you're staying here for the holidays."

"Yes, Professor." She checked my name off of her list and I went to continue on my way but she spoke up again.

"Nora." I sighed. It's always bad when a Professor uses your first name. I turned towards her. "Dumbledore wanted me to tell you that Professor Lockhart and Snape are having a little Dueling Club this afternoon, and he thought you might want to join."

"I'm sure I will." I clenched my books tighter. "Sorry. I mean thank you for telling me. If you'll excuse me, I don't feel too well."

"Good day, Ms. Black."

"Bye, professor."

I sat with Andi up in my secret room. I skipped charms today so I could have some free time before I went to the stupid Dueling Club.

A letter dropped from a little owl that soared in.

I flipped over the post card from London. Sawyer had written to me. I smiled and dug around in my knapsack for the book I was keeping all my post cards and letters from Sawyer in. I had similar notebooks for my other friends. I also grabbed a card that I had stashed from Hogsmead and scrawled him a little response on the back of a Honeyduke's Sweet Shop card and sent it off with the same quick little owl.

The bells chimed and Andi and I made our way down to the side hall that was being used for the Dueling Club. The crowd filed in and I stayed with Fred, George, and Harry. The girls swooned as Lockhart walked along the mat, asking if we could all hear and see him. He tossed away his stupid powder blue cape. The girls who caught it squealed. I leaned against George's shoulder.

"Do you feel better?" He asked quietly as Fred talked to Harry about wanting to kick some Slytherin butt.

"What?"

"You said earlier that you didn't feel good, and Harry said you missed class."

"Yeah, I'm okay."

"Good."

Up on the mat, Lockhart was challenging Snape to a duel. I straightened up and readjusted my bag.

"This is gonna be good." Fred grinned mischievously. I moved closer to the mat, standing between Harry and Ron. I noticed Ron's ears turn more pink than usual as I watched the teachers go through the formalities of dueling.

Snape turned and completely kicked Lockhart's butt. Disarming him and throwing him back on his hindquarters.

"Go Snape!" I cheered, everyone turned and looked at me like I was Fluffy.

"Very well, Professor Snape, but let's be honest, it was pretty obvious what you were going to do."

"Maybe it would be more pertinent to teach the students defensive spells."

"Yes, of course, of course. I need two volunteers." Gilderoy Lockhart scanned the crowd. "Potter, Weasley." Harry went to the steps at the end of the platform and Ron stayed where he was.

"No, Weasley's wand is still broken. We'll be sending Potter to the hospital wing… in a matchbox. Might I suggest someone from … my own house?"

"Of course." We all watched as Snape gestured for Malfoy to get up to duel. "Purely defensive spells!"

Malfoy sent Harry flying backwards. I pushed my way through the crowd. I pulled out my wand. I felt three hands pull me back; the twins and Ron all had a hold on my robes.

"Let him fight this one out." Fred murmured.

Harry rebounded the spell and Malfoy fell with a satisfying thud. Malfoy got up, angry. He shot a cobra at Harry. Lockhart tried to take care of it, but all he did was throw it up in the air and freak out everyone in the room.

I watched, mesmerized as Harry spoke a calmly, hissing language to the snake. The reptile swayed back and forth, between looking at Harry and Justin Flinch-Fletchly. Snape muttered a curse and the snake burnt up. The room was silent. I grabbed Harry, and we ran out of the hall. Hermione and Ron on our heels.

I pulled him into a reading room and started to pace. "Harry!"

"Nora, calm down!"

"Why didn't you tell us you were a parselmouth?" Ron asked, almost mad.

"A what?"

"You were speaking the snake language." Hermione said.

"I set a python on my cousin Dudley at the zoo once. Once! I bet loads of people here can do it."

I leaned against the wall and watched this. I was so afraid that people would alienate Harry more than they already do. This school was his home, these were the only friends he had.

"It's not a very common gift Harry. This is bad."

"What's bad? If I hadn't told that snake not to attack Justin-"

"That's what you told it to do?" Ron said in disbelief.

"Of course! You heard me. Nora, I was standing right in front of you."

"I heard you speaking a different language." I said softly.

"How can I speak a different language and not even know I'm doing it?"

"I don't know, but it looked like you were egging it on, Harry. Listen to me; there's a reason the symbol of the Slytherin house is a serpent." Hermione paused to take a breath before spewing more facts at us. I moved closer to hear her better. "Salazar Slytherin was a parsel mouth. He could talk to snakes, too."

"Now everybody thinks you're his great-great-grandson or something!" Ron said.

"That's impossible." Harry looked at me for reassurance that I couldn't give him.

"He lived over five thousand years ago, for all we know, you could be." My brain clicked and I knew what could be in the chamber. Something only _he_ could control. Serpents.

* * *

I was sitting in the library doing homework. It was uncomfortable in the silence. I started to pack up my books, sliding the newest monster book I had into the depths of my bag with me.

Harry stood up. "I think I'll go, too." He grabbed his books. "See you back at the common room."

I looked back at all the people gawking at Harry. I glared at them and they looked away quickly.

"Harry, I just want you to know-" I started but Harry was looking around like he heard something I didn't.

"Did you hear that?" I shook my head. He took off running. We rounded a corner and stopped so suddenly I slipped on the damp floor.

"Nearly-Headless Nick!" I stood up and looked at the ghost suspended in midair, head tilting off to the side.

"Justin!" Harry ran to the boy lying cold and still on the ground. I kneeled on his other side and tried to wake him up. I knew he was petrified by the same thing that got Colin.

"He's petrified, like the others." Filch came around the corner and sneered.

"I got you two this time, mark my words."

"Mr. Filch! You don't understand!" The caretaker ran off and Harry and I stayed with Justin until McGonagall came back with him.

"Professor! Harry didn't do anything!" I stood protectively in front of him.

"Ms. Black, I'll need you both to come with me." She looked at both of us sadly.

She took us to Dumbledore's office. Harry was amazed with the spinning staircase.

He and I went into the warm room. I walked straight to the photo I had found my first time here. The two boys continued to playfully shove each other over what I had found out was the House Cup. Harry was talking softly to the Sorting Hat. I picked up the picture and tried to figure out why I was so drawn to it. I was sure that the one man with the glasses was Harry's father. The other one I had no clue of.

"Nora!" Harry pointed at Fawkes who had burst into flames.

"It's okay, he'll come back soon out of the ashes."

"Very good, Nora, I see you've been listening to Hagrid."

"Andromeda hasn't done it yet. She won't for a while, though." I sat the picture down and took a seat to watch Dumbledore talk to Harry about the petrifications.

Hagrid burst in, "NORA AND HARRY DIDN'T DO IT!" We all jumped. Hagrid was holding the latest victim of his mass rooster genocide. He would go out and two or three a night would be gone or dead.

"Hagrid!" Dumbledore tried to interrupt.

"I'd be willing to swear it in front of the Ministry of Magic!"

"HAGRID!" Dumbledore yelled. "I know they did not do it." Hagrid looked at me and shook his head.

"Of course, I'll just be leaving you alone now." He nodded again and left.

"Harry, Nora." I stood next to Harry.

"Yes, sir?" We said together.

"Is there anything you want to tell me?" We shook our heads.

"Alright, then you may go, but stay safe."

I glanced back at the picture before I grabbed the door handle. "Sir?" I asked closing the door after Harry had left.

"Yes?" He was doting on the newly re-born Fawkes.

"You said that Salazar Slytherin put a monster in the Chamber of Secrets only he could control, correct?" Dumbledore nodded.

"That is what the legend says, but Nora, that was five thousand years ago, this could be a completely different beast all together."

"Okay, I will continue looking." I hesitated before turning again to face the headmaster to ask him about the man in the picture, but he was gone. I shook my head. "Strange old man." I shut the door softly behind me.

"Nora! What were you doing wandering about the halls with Harry!?" Hagrid fussed. I sighed. Harry gave me an apologetic look.

"We were walking back to the common room, I thought it's be safer than just letting Harry go by himself." We walked at a brisk pace. Well, Harry and I had to hurry along to keep up with Hagrid's lumbering steps anyway.

"I still do not want anything bad ta happen ta the two of ya. This happened when I was in school, and one o' my classmates died."

"What?" Harry and I interjected.

"I shouldn't have said that. I should not have said that." He shook his head making the mass of wiry black hair toss around.

"Who died, Hagrid?"

"You two do not need to worry about that." We were standing in front of the fat lady.

"Hagrid, it's imperative you tell us what happened so we can kill it and stop these attacks."

"The staff is taking care of it, I don't want you- either of you- to mess around with the monster in the Chamber of Secrets."

"But-"

"No buts, Nora." Hagrid nodded to us and walked away, dead rooster swinging from his belt.

Harry said the password and we climbed into the common room. Everyone swarmed us, asking questions and asking what we'd been doing together.

The twins grabbed me and pulled me out of the pack.

"So Nora, we hear that you and Potter are the heirs of Slytherin now," I rolled my eyes.

"Of course, we have matching hats." They pulled me farther away from the group and sat me down. Hermione and Ron fought off the others to talk to Harry.

"But really though," Fred started leaning closer to me.

"Did you and Potter petrify Justin?" George finished the sentence.

"No." I stood up and briskly walked up to my room. Andi cawed and flew after me.

* * *

I was pulling out all the books I had borrowed illegally from the library onto the librarian's desk. Flitwick had caught me shoving a stack of tomes into my bag without permission so now I was on my third wobbly stack of books. I dug around a little more, my fingers brushing against my pranks and fireworks and the prototypes of some gags the twins had thought up. I pulled out one more book and put it on the corner of the desk.

"Here you go, that's all I have. Can I go? It's Christmas eve." The ghost librarian gave me a wary look and nodded. "Happy Christmas!" I called as I left even though I was furious that I had lost all the research I had done these past few weeks.

The Christmas feast was about to start. I ducked into a secret passage and jumped out behind a suit of armor near the great hall doors. I slipped in and tried to find somewhere to sit. Harry, Ron, Hermione and the twins were all sitting together. I looked around the room, there weren't very many people staying here this Christmas. I happened to see a lone boy from Slytherin sitting at the far end of the table. I sighed and walked towards him. The twins gave me bewildered looks as I grabbed a plate and stood in front of the boy.

"Is this seat taken?" I asked. He jolted up from the daydream he'd been in.

"U-uh, no, it's not."

"Good." I sat on the bench and my plate filled with food. I dug in and stuffed my face.

"Why are you sitting here?" The boy asked, watching me eat.

"Because there's a seat to sit in?"

"I don't want your pity, Gryffindor." I rolled my eyes and drank some pumpkin juice.

"I'm not into pity. My name is Nora."

"Why aren't you sitting with your friends? I think the Weasley twins might explode by the look on their faces."

I turned and waved to my friends. Fred and George looked absolutely furious.

"They'll get over it." Andi soared in and perched on the table, begging for food like a street urchin. I tossed her some ham and she climbed up my sleeve and sat on my head. Leaning down so her face was in my way; she begged for more food. The boy laughed at her antics. I sighed and held out the rind of my ham.

"I'm Thatcher, by the way." I smiled at him.

"Glad to see we're finally introduced." I saw Hermione hand Harry and Ron two chocolate cakes and they stood up and left. Those must be to take care of Crabbe and Goyle.

I really didn't mind that I wasn't involved in their infiltration of the Slytherin house. I had enough on my plate already. I had to go back into the library and get a book on ancient monsters. I knew it had to been a serpent. I knew it was dangerous, and I knew that I had to take care of it before anyone else got hurt. I needed to find out how to get to the Chamber and how to kill it. I hadn't found anything specific on what big snake petrified people and freaked out spiders.

* * *

I was creeping out of the library when I heard voices. I hid behind a sculpture of a pig as the boys walked past.

"Hermione should be out of the hospital in a few days, just as soon as she stops coughing up hairballs." It was Harry and Ron, back from their escapade. I quietly followed them.

"Boo!" I scared them.

"Nora!" They both yelled.

"Sorry. I now realize how mean that was, considering all the attacks and everything." I took one of each of their hands and swung our arms. "How did your little escapade go?"

"Good, made me hate Malfoy all the more though." I stepped in some water and it soaked my shoes.

"Looks like Myrtle's flooded the bathroom." I grumbled. We ran in and the moaning ghost was sobbing her high pitched sobs.

"Come to throw something else at me?"

"What?" Harry asked.

"There I was, minding my own business when someone threw a book through my head." She burst into tears.

"But it can't hurt you if someone throws something at you. It'll just go right through you." Ron said.

"Let's all throw books at Myrtle now. Ten points if it goes through her stomach, fifty if it goes through her head!" She punched Ron through the stomach and head.

Harry picked up a black journal from the ground.

I reached to take it from him, he pulled it away. "I want to look it over." I shrugged. I would just get it from him some other time. It was really weird that someone would try and flush a journal down the toilet…

I rolled out of bed and stretched. I looked over at Andi and sighed. She had already taken over my warm spot. I ripped a brush through my curls and got dressed in my school uniform. The other girls were already gone, a little unusual, but I was too tired to care.

I set a foot in the common room and realized why all the girls were gone; it was Valentine's Day. I growled and went to walk back up the steps, I didn't have class today anyway. The twins barred my way.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Nora Black." Both of them held out a small package.

"What is it?" I said, taking the little box from them.

"A token of our appreciation for your obvious adoration of us." I looked at them and sighed. I pulled the string off and crumpled the paper. I lifted the lid and the contents sprung out at me. Hundreds of paper hearts burst forth and blinded me. I shut the lid, spit out the little pieces of paper and glared at them. I sat the box down and quickly walked away, out the common room and into a secret passage.

I hated Valentine's Day.

I sat at the table in the Great Hall, pushing around my heart shaped food. There was a clang in front of me; a dwarf stood dressed as a cupid with one foot in the pudding and the other in my oatmeal. He strummed an out of tune lyre.

"What is _this_?" I leaned back and took in the entire bizarre scene before me. The dwarf cleared his throat and strummed the instrument he had in his hands again.

The twins bumped into either side of me. "Looks like you've got yourself an admirer, Nora." They said together. I stared at the dwarf as he crooned an off-key love ballad to me before handing me an enchanted paper heart which revealed a message when I opened it. He stepped out of the bowls of food and left sticky little footprints as he climbed down the other side of the table. I put the valentine in my bag without even looking at it.

"Aren't you going to read it?" George urged as I reached to get a bowl of oatmeal that hadn't had a diapered dwarf foot in it.

"Not right now with you two nosy sods about." I slid two eggs into my bowl of bacon, toast, and oatmeal before I stood up.

"Aren't you even the tiniest bit curious as to who it's from?" Fred said, leaning on the table backwards. "And that mish mosh of food looks disgusting."

"No." I reached between the twins to grab my drink and a spoon. "And sod off."

"You have to be!" I shook my head.

"It's the first valentine I've gotten. What's the big deal about who it's from?" I turned on my heel and hurried away with my food.

I had never gotten a valentine before! I was going to go up to my secret hideaway and find out who it was from safe from prying eyes.

* * *

I plopped down on the pile of pillows and blankets. I sat my food down on the floor and grabbed out the heart shaped red paper. I took a deep breath and opened it;

_Dear Nora Black, _

_Your wit's charming, _

_Your smile's divine. _

_On this Valentine 's Day, _

_Won't you be mine?_

_~A Secret Admirer_

_P.S. Meet me by the pig statue on the third floor at four o'clock. _

I smiled in spite of myself. An owl flew through the window and dropped a thick stack of post into my lap.

There was a valentine from Sawyer. It looked like an old wizarding one with enchanted hearts bubbling up from the paper to burst with a sweet scent of caramel. There was a knock at the door. I jumped up- not in fear of the knock but that someone had found my secret hideaway. I went to the door.

"Who is it?" I heard a nervous shuffling of feet.

A quiet voice piped up from the other side, "It's um, Neville," I opened the door and smiled.

"Hey, Neville!" I ushered him into my inner sanctum.

He handed me a flower that moved around examining the room.

"Happy Valentine's Day." The boy blushed beet red and looked away from me. I kissed him on the cheek and he turned even more scarlet.

"You too," I tucked the flower into my backpack and left my secret room.

* * *

I was hiding a little way down from where I was supposed to meet my 'secret admirer'. I tapped my foot nervously. I didn't know if this was a trick or it was real, and I was terrified of both. Lots of students passed the statue and kept on walking. My heart thumped harder against my chest the closer to four it got. I looked over again at the hog statue and sighed; no one was there as the bells chimed four. I stepped out of my hiding spot and went to walk past the statue up to the common room when someone yelled.

"Nora! Nora! Stop!" Dean Thomas was being frog walked down the steps by the Weasley twins. I readjusted my knapsack and watched them. Dean was pushed in front of me and he was blushing, avoiding all eye contact.

"You sent me the valentine?" I held up the paper. Dean ruffled his short hair and nodded.

"Yeah."

The twins nudged him closer to me. "Okay." I shrugged and turned to leave when Dean grabbed my hand.

"I did mean it, you're really amazing, Nora." I smiled.

The twins cleared their throats together.

"And," he added, "Would you like to go to Honeydukes with me on the next holiday?"

"We're only second years, Dean. We're not allowed to go down there." Even though I had been going with the twins via the One-Eyed Witch passage since last year.

"We give you two free reign over the secret passages to get down there." I glared at the twins.

I rolled my eyes and put my arm through Dean's and marched him away from the ginger pests. "Let's get something straight." Dean felt warm against my side and I liked it. I let his arm go when we had rounded the corner.

"What is it?" He ran his fingers through his hair self-consciously and grabbed the back of his neck.

"You shouldn't have sent that valentine." He went to speak, "Don't get me wrong, it was really sweet, but I'm 13, and while crushes are supposed to be what I'm into nowadays, it's not." I paused to take a breath and Dean took it as a chance to speak.

"I was just going to say that the twins overheard me talking about wanting to send you a valentine so they did it."

"What?" We had reached the Fat Lady's picture.

"If you don't like me, I understand, it's better really." He laughed humorlessly, "Pretty sure Seamus would skin me alive if he found out. He's pretty smitten with you himself." I groaned and said the password; _Felix Felicius._

I walked through the common room and my phoenix flew to me, draped in heart garland and glitter. I dusted her head off and sighed. Pulling out my wand with a sharp flick, all the decoration she'd tangled herself in were gone.

"Blasted bird." I ruffled her feathers and she cooed.

* * *

I was brewing a draft of what I had concluded would wake up the petrification victims when Snape burst in, making me add too much lacewing fly. The potion bubbled over and I growled.

"What-" I snapped at him, "-is your major malfunction, professor?" He looked at the mess I'd made.

"Clean that up, Black." I pulled out my wand and the charred mess was taken care of.

I put my supplies away a little more forcefully than was necessary and made a few corrections on the notes I was working off of.

My cauldron clattered to the floor when Andi apparated on the desk. She was still getting used to being able to do that.

"Get that blasted animal out of the potions room." She preened a few of her precious tail feathers out and hopped to the professor's desk and sat them in front of him; a peace offering. He waved her away.

"Professor, what's wrong?" He looked over at me and shook his head.

"If there are any more attacks, Dumbledore will be removed from Hogwarts pending an investigation and search of the entire school."

"What?" I slammed my backpack down. "How stupid can they be? Dumbledore is the greatest wizard the world has ever known. If he can't protect us, who will?"

"You must not tell anyone else about this, Nora. There would be too many rumors spread throughout the school." I ground my teeth together and looked over at the shelves of potion ingredients floating in their jars of colorful liquid.

"Fine." I finally said after a deep breath and grabbed my bag, calling Andi to me. "Good day professor, I hope to see you at the Quidditch match."

* * *

I was sitting outside the Gryffindor Quidditch tent waiting for my friends to get out. I picked at a splinter as I thought about all the facts I knew about the serpent in the Chamber of Secrets. It was obviously a snake, but what kind? Did it have any weaknesses? These questions spun endlessly in my head until Harry walked out behind Wood and I stood up. McGonagall hurried over.

"This match has been cancelled."

Wood was livid, "You can't just cancel Quidditch-"

"Not now, Mr. Wood. Mr. Potter, Ms. Black, would you please come with me, we need to find Mr. Weasley."

My stomach twisted into a knot, "Hermione." I whispered. I hadn't seen her since before I went to the potions room. She had been going to the library.

"Yes, Ms. Granger and Ms. Clearwater have been the latest victims." We rushed to the infirmary.

Hermione was laying on a bed, her hand raised as if she had been holding something. McGonagall held up Harry's hand mirror I'd given him last Christmas.

"Does this mean anything to the any of you?" I looked at Harry he shrugged.

"Hermione said she wanted to borrow a mirror for something." He took it and slid it into his Quidditch robe pocket.

* * *

I felt like this was all my fault. I needed to get that monster. I was pacing in Dumbledore's office. I had come here to get a straight answer out him about what happened last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened.

I heard voice outside the door and I hid behind the headmaster's desk.

"…he must be removed, Dumbledore." The door opened.

"Cornelius, we both know that Hagrid did not open the Chamber."

"The evidence suggested otherwise. Last time all this happened, and as I might remind you, a student's life was taken by this monster." Dumbledore sat down in his chair. He bumped into me and I watched in fear as he casually knocked a quill off his desk. He leaned down and saw me.

"No need to remind me of that, Minster," He picked up the quill and sat upright.

"I say we go down and remove the groundskeeper at once, the sooner the better." I gasped. Dumbledore tapped his fingers against his chair arm, dropping a scrap of paper. I grabbed it, scanning the words quickly.

_Go to Hagrid's with the utmost haste. _

He stood up and walked around the desk. I crawled out and listened for the two men to move away.

"Might I interest you in a drink, Cornelius? It might help relieve some of the burden of telling an innocent man he's guilty for the second time." Dumbledore put a hand on the Minister of Magic's shoulder and turned him away. With his other hand, he gestured for me to run. I padded across the room and opened the door. As I slipped out, I heard Dumbledore smooth over why the door had opened and shut on its own.

Why would they think that Hagrid had opened the Chamber of Secrets? I used one of the secret passages that let out under the Whomping Willow. The twins and I had discovered that it not only went to the school but also all the way to the Shrieking Shack in Hogsmead. I petrified the murderous bush and scampered out of the hole, getting dirt on my palms and my robes where my knees dug in. I ran through the cold grass towards the flickering light of Hagrid's hut.

I was out of breath when I pounded on the door. Hagrid rustled around inside, talking quietly to someone, or something. I hadn't been down to watch his newest creature hatch. He opened the door a crack and I weaseled myself inside.

"Hagrid! They've come to take you away." I pulled my wild black hair back and left smudges of dirt on my face in the process.

"Who Nora? Why are you out of the school at this time of night?" I shook my head.

"Fudge! He's come with orders to take you in until the monster in the Chamber of Secrets has been killed and you've been found innocent." I caught the ripple of the fireplace. I didn't turn my head but I kept looking at that area. It kept shimmering. I grabbed a fistful of the silky material of the invisibility cloak to reveal Ron and Harry.

There was a knock at the door. "Hagrid." Dumbledore drew out the name, giving us time to hide. I pulled the invisibility cloak over the three of us and held my breath, hoping none of our bodies were showing.

"Come in." Hagrid opened the door and let the two men in.

"Good evening, Hagrid." Fudge looked around with a look of disgust on his face I wanted to smack off.

"No need for pleasantries. I know why ye're here," Hagrid sighed.

As if this moment couldn't get any better, Mr. Ponytail himself swaggered in. "Lucius, I did not expect to find you here." Dumbledore knew what was going on, but he wasn't sharing with the class.

"Headmaster, I've come with a letter signed by all the school governors that wants you off the school grounds, and your-" He pointed at Hagrid, "Whatever his title is at this school, pending investigation into the event taken place here this year." Dumbledore nodded.

"I see. And the other governors signed this letter willingly?" Lucius smirked and nodded. The headmaster looked around the hut, eyes stopping on where I had hidden the three of us.

"I would just like to make a remark; help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who need it." He nodded and walked out of the room, humming a song that sounded vaguely familiar. Hagrid tried to pass off the same tone of nonchalantdless but failed; "If uh, anyone would be looking for answers, all they'd have to do would be to follow the spiders. Yes, that's it. Follow the spiders." He went to walk out the door and stopped. "And someone'll have to feed Fang." He nodded and walked out. When the door closed behind Fudge, I threw off the cloak and paced back and forth.

"You two need to get back up to the school, go on. Go. I'll feed Fang and be up in a minute." They hesitated and I pointed to the door. "Put on the cloak." They left and I grabbed some meat for Fang to eat. He gnawed it, growling softly. I looked around the entire hut for a line of spiders. I found nothing until I got to the broken side window, there was a perfect line of spiders crawling up the wall and out. I pulled out my wand and went outside to follow them.

* * *

I lost the line of spiders. I had followed them into the Forbidden Forest for half an hour or more. I kept walking in the same general direction that I thought they had been going. Keeping an eye out for a trail of spiders, I had neglected to realize I had wandered into a clearing.

"Why are you here?" Someone asked with the most alluring voice I'd ever heard. I spun around trying to see who was talking.

"Who's there?" There was not a sound. I heard my breathing speed up.

"I asked why you wandered into my hunting ground." My throat tightened.

"Vampire." I turned and standing in front of me was the least vampire looking bloodsucker I'd ever seen.

"You must be the top of your class." He laughed humorlessly and pushed his dark curly hair back to reveal an ear that was slightly pointed and fingernails that were blunt and coal black. I shivered at the thought of his cold skin, like that of a corpse. "For the last time, why are you here? Do you wish to be one of the undead? Do you want to fall in love with a vampire? I can assure you it is nothing like what that idiotic American movie saga portrayed it." I laughed a little and stopped when I saw his nostrils flare and throat clench.

"I'm looking for anyone who knows anything about the monster that lives in Hogwarts." I backed away from him and he moved back, too.

"Which one?" He said softly, sitting on a stump. His black eyes pierced mine.

"I shouldn't be surprised that there are more than one in the school. The Chamber of Secrets. I know it has to be a serpent but I have no clue as to what animal would petrify people." I watched him pull at a loose thread on the frayed edge of his shirt cuff. I recognized his indigo cloak from when I was catching the Cornish Pixies.

"A basilisk, giant snake, very bad. You're going to have a hard time getting rid of that one, 'specially if it's as old as Salazar Slytherin." He looked back up at me and I couldn't move. I wasn't petrified, I didn't think. He lithely walked over to me. My heart hammered against my chest. I felt my blood quicken in my veins. He acted pained as he pushed one side of my hair off my shoulder.

"What are you doing? I'm Nora, by the way. In case that would appeal to your inner kindness and spare my blood." I heard the unsteady and scared tone flow out of my mouth.

"I don't want to do this, you understand, Nora. I'm Wilhelm. I don't usually drink human blood. I've survived on creatures out of the forest, but with that bloody Basilisk out and about, the only thing to eat has been spiders and centaurs, and both are very unappetizing. But you, you fine young morsel come strutting in here clueing for looks, if you allow an old vamp his Sherlock references. I've not drank in weeks. I, like all other things, eat to survive. Self-preservation comes before free will these days." He held onto my shoulders and looked absolutely devastated at the idea of drinking my blood.

"Wilhelm, don't do it, you can live for millennia without drinking. I've come across a book on vampires in my quest to find the basilisk." He shook his head and his grip on my shoulders tightened to the point of pain. I sucked in a breath and he looked away from me.

"I've been fighting this for a long time. A _very_ long time." He bit his lip, two sharp teeth in his otherwise pristine mouth glistened in the moonlight. Promise me you will rid the area of the basilisk so that I may return to living off animals. Maybe then I can leave you to live and die a mortal." He still held onto my shoulder.

"I promise. My friends are all in danger, too. Now that I know what I am fighting, it has made the job mush easier, thank you." There was a crash behind us. Gisborne stood gleaming with sweat. He panted and looked at the vampire and I.

"Get away from her, parasite." He growled. Wilhelm's fingernails dug into my skin through my clothes.

"Filthy half-breed." The centaur charged and the vampire yanked me out of the way. Something scraped my face and for a moment I thought everything was fine.

It started as a stinging sensation in my face as I tried to stand up to leave the two fighting boys alone. Then my head started to go fuzzy. I saw Wilhelm look over at me and I couldn't stand up. I held my hand up against my face, my fingers came back slick with dark blood. Gisborne was yelling at someone, but everything sounded like it was underwater. I looked up at the stars and fell backwards into the grass. Gisborne scooped me up and galloped through the forest. I screamed when the venom met my circulation. I convulsed in his arms.

He reached the edge of the school grounds. There were only a few lights on. I noticed before my body almost seized out of Gisborne's arms. I cried out and held my face. Everything was burning. I closed my eyes and blacked out.

But even in the dark I felt the pain. I felt the scared jerky movements of Gisborne as he tried to find a way to the school grounds.

"..Andi…" I whimpered. He asked me something that I couldn't hear.

I felt him run some more and stopped. He took my wand and petrified the tree. I heard a shrill squawk and then my body was sucked via apparition somewhere else. I thrashed around. I clawed at my face and screamed out. I felt many hands grab onto my legs and arms. I forced my eyes open and saw the nurse and several teachers circled around me. It took a moment when one side of my human restraints were weak and turned to one side, retching on the floor from pain. I screamed out again and my back arched. I saw the teacher's mouths move but all I could hear was the thunderous rush of blood in my ears. My heart erratically beat around, stopping and starting in no specific order. Someone held my head still so my wounded cheek was facing upwards. It burned to have anyone touch it. I felt a cool sensation flood the wound felt much better but my blood still boiled in my veins. I saw Snape and grabbed his arm. Through the fog I saw fear in his eyes.

"..Basilisk. Chamber." I let go of his sleeve and groaned.

"Help her, Severus." McGonagall pleaded. I felt Madame Pomfrey force a vile potion in my mouth and clamp my mouth closed so I couldn't spit it back out. It burnt my throat along with my already in pain body.

I fell unconscious. I wasn't thrashing around anymore, but my pain intensified.

I don't know how long I was under that potion, silently screaming in the darkness. I felt my fingers get colder, like I was in the snow for too long.

Just before I couldn't hang on anymore, there was someone holding my jaw so I couldn't move and something poured into my mouth. I gagged a little and as it went to my stomach, the pain went away with it.

* * *

Someone was snoring in my ear. I moved away and was met with a hard thump to my forehead. I groaned and touched my head. My entire body ached liked I had run into a nest of fire sprites.

I opened my eyes and smacked the Weasley twins away from my bed in the hospital wing. They groaned and wiped the drool off of their faces. I rubbed my eyes again and sat up. When they realized I was conscious they hugged me together, crushing me between them. When they relented to let me go, I rubbed my face. The twins looked at each other and then at me, then away.

"What, what is it?" I thought they were just messing around until I went to look at my face in the mirror on my nightstand. Fred grabbed it away and pressed it against his chest. I threw off my blankets and went to get out of bed. Madame Pomfrey came over and shooed away the boys. I was forced back into bed and given some more of the vile potion that had saved my life. I felt my face again. There were a few slight lines on my cheek that I thought had been from sleeping on the pillow.

"What's on my face?" The nurse sighed and handed me a little compact mirror from her pocket. I looked into it and saw I had two pale scars about two inches long on my cheek bone.

"They won't go away. We've tried everything. Snape's been working day and night, but vampire venom is resistant to almost everything. It's a miracle Professor Snape was able to make that Nightlock potion as an antidote. That bird of yours is no slouch either. She came in and healed up the bite, but there are even things Phoenix tears cannot heal." I handed back the mirror and nodded dumbly.

She brushed my hair off my forehead and gave me a sad grin.

"Everything will be fine, Nora, you're an amazingly strong young woman to be able to stave off vampire venom as long as you did. Most would have succumb in minutes." Dumbledore came in. A large bat swooped in and landed on my bed. The nurse went to raise her wand to it, but I stopped her. The bat dropped my wand halfway wrapped in brown paper and awkwardly dropped off the bed so it could take back off into the morning light. I pulled off the paper and smoothed it out.

_Nora._

_I cannot express the deep anger and self-hatred that has festered inside of me since I wounded you. I have heard from others that you have survived and are expected to make a full recovery. Of that I am glad, I have also felt the presence of the basilisk no more in the Forbidden Forest. _

_P.S. You must stop going into the Forbidden Forest as far as you did. I am not the worst thing hidden in the darkness. _

I took a series of quick gasps and grabbed my wand. I ran out of the hospital wing, my bare feet slapping the cold stones of the halls and steps.

Outside I kept running, the letter crumbled in my fist. My legs were unsteady, I didn't know how long I had been asleep since the accident. I ran to the edge of the forest and waited. As I held my breath I scanned the undergrowth.

"Gisborne." I said softly, stepping into the new growth on the forest floor. The centaur stepped forward, gleaming in the thin shafts of light.

"I see you are much improved."

"You killed him, didn't you?" I moved closer as he took another hesitant step towards me.

"I may have," he said with the moony tone the half-men half-horse are keen to use.

"Then venom would have been impossible to stop had Wilhelm been alive." I noticed he touch a series of raw scars on his chest and upper arm. I touched them gently, turning my face up to him.

"He violated the law." He said it like the proud centaur he wanted to be.

"He threatened me. Why must you deny that fact that you do care for me? We are friends, Gisborne, stop acting like we can't be." He looked down and touched my scarred cheek.

"Nora Black, you are so very strange."

"I'm not the one with a tail." I grinned and he pulled me onto his back and took off towards the Black Lake.

Harry talked to me that afternoon and told me about how he and Ron had met Aragog, found the Chamber, and succeeded in getting Lockhart out of his teaching position. I had laughed for five minutes when he told me that. When I was done, he got this serious look on his face though. I had asked him what was wrong. He looked around and frowned.

"I met Tom Riddle, or a memory of him… it was inside the journal. He was draining the life out of Ginny. I've never seen anything like it before Nora." I hugged him and stroked his hair.

"It's nothing. You destroyed the journal so it can never hurt anyone ever again."

I let him go and he ran onto the Hogwarts express. I waved to my friends as the train pulled out of the station. My smile dropped away when they were out of sight. How could Tom Riddle put a part of himself in a journal?


	7. Prisoner of Azkaban part 1

I sighed and rolled over in my bed. It was Harry's birthday soon and I had no idea what I wanted to get him. I sat bolt upright. I wouldn't get him anything! I'd take him to Diagon Alley! I rolled out of bed and changed my clothes. Hagrid snored away, mumbling something about his Care of Magical Creatures class. I decided to not tell Harry that I was coming to whisk him away, it would be a lovely surprise just like last year. I grabbed my backpack after I wrote my guardian a note telling him where I'd be if he needed me. Andi growled when I shook her to wake her up. She bit my hand and I flicked her beak. She stood up on my blankets and flapped her wings.

"We're going to Diagon Alley, Andi." She perched on my shoulder and we walked outside. I was about to give her the order to apparate us to London when I thought I better tell Hagrid.

I shook his shoulder hard, he snorted and looked at me. "Nora? What's the matter?"

"I'm going to get Harry for an early birthday present. Is it okay if we stay there until term starts? The Weasleys are going to be there the week before term starts along with Hermione and her parents."

"Take the Knight Bus." He grumbled and I nodded.

"Bye Hagrid." I touched his head and walked out. Andi was scratching at the dirt in the dawn light.

I walked up to the school and down the passage to Honeydukes cellar. I crept up and snuck out the door before the owners caught me.

Waving my wand like I was hitch-hiking, a three decker purple bus appeared down the street and came to a screeching stop in front of me.

A young man tromped down the steps and looked at a card in his hands.

"Hello, and welcome to the Knight Bus. I am Stan Shunpike and I will be your conductor for the day." He looked up and grinned.

"Hi, Stan." I said laughing a little and brushed past him to get on the bus.

Stan is Sawyer's best friend. I met him in passing a few times when I was running around with Sawyer in Diagon Alley.

"Oy!" He pointed at my phoenix. "You can't bring that blasted bird on here!"

"She's going to be fine." I sat down on one of the rolling beds and dug around in my backpack to get my mirror out and get ahold of Harry. The bus lurched and I fell forward. Stan caught me and I stood up. I felt myself blush and turned away from the older wizard. I held onto one of the straps and looked into the mirror. Harry showed up bleary eyed and his wild hair even more mused.

"Nora?" He groaned, falling back onto his bed.

"Happy day after your birthday, boy who lived." I smirked at him as he rolled his eyes.

"I got your letter," he held up the hairy book that Hagrid was using as a textbook. "And a present from Hagrid." I laughed as the book squirmed and he dropped it on the ground.

"Have any big plans for the rest of the summer?" The bus came to a stop and one of the few other people on got off. I held on tighter as we flew to London.

"Surviving a visit from the gargantuan Aunt Marge tomorrow." I nodded.

"She always brings the party with here, how many dogs is she going to accost Number four Privet Drive tomorrow?"

"Only one, Ripper, or so she calls it."

"Well you should be having a grand old time." I jerked back and forth as the bus wove through traffic on the bridge.

"What are you doing?" he craned his neck to try and see my surroundings.

"Oh, here's my stop, catch you later." I tucked the mirror away and winked at Stan as I stepped onto the curb in front of the Leaky Cauldron.

I walked in and heard Sawyer playing his guitar. I looked around to make sure that there weren't very many people who were sober enough to care if I yelled before I said, "Wooowee! Who's that boy up there, is that the new Harry Stiles or what?" I fanned myself and swooned.

Sawyer looked up and smiled, he dropped his guitar and ran over to me, stopping a few feet away. "Hurt me! Hurt me!" He crooned gesturing to me and fanning his face. "Do my eyes deceive me or is that Renora Black come to call on her non-Hogwarts friend?" I hugged him and when he would usually let go, his hands rested on my waist. I didn't pull away because it felt nice. His voice got lower and he smiled at me this slow, big smile. I brushed his sandy hair out of his blue eyes and his hands were warm on my back.

"Did ya miss me or something?"

"Not at all." I noticed that his t-shirt was one that I had sent his from Hogwarts.

"Nice shirt." He looked down and nodded.

"The girl who got it for me has good taste but no fashion sense." I punched his shoulder playfully. He let me go and we ordered two butter beers.

"How's life in the real world?"

He shrugged and sipped the foam on his drink, it left a slight line of white on his upper lip. I wiped it off with my thumb. "Boring, what brings you to Diagon Alley?"

"I've come to rescue Harry from his horrid aunt, uncle, and cousin."

"You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say that you were in love with Harry Potter." I laughed.

"No, he's like my little brother."

"They all say that right up until they fall madly in love with each other." He pouted with faux sadness.

"I promise you, that's not going to happen."

* * *

I hailed the Knight Bus the next evening after I had eaten dinner with Sawyer in the Leaky Cauldron.

"'ello again. See you brought that stupid animal with you again." Andi hissed at him from where she was perched on my backpack.

"Don't call my bird stupid." I sat down in an armchair that rolled around just as severely as the beds did at night.

"Where to today?"

"Number four Privet Drive, Little Whinning."

"Got that Ernie?" Stan said as he picked up today's Daily Prophet.

"Hold onto to your bird, girl." The shrunken head cackled as we zipped off. I heard Andi scratch at the material of my backpack for some traction. I grabbed onto the window sill to keep in relatively one place. I saw the headline on the newspaper Stan was holding.

"Who's he?" A mad man screamed from the photo on the front page. His face was sunken and his eyes hollow and dark. I stood up and looked at the picture closer. He reminded of someone but only vaguely.

"Sirius Black? You mean to tell me that in all the time you've been in Diagon Alley and Hogwarts you've never heard of Sirius Black?" I bumped into Stan when the bus hit the break hard to avoid hitting a cat. He grabbed onto my arm and righted me.

"No, what'd he do?"

"Got himself locked up in Azkaban." I shuddered. Hagrid was very cagey when it came talking about his time Azkaban last year when the basilisk ran rampant through the school. Well not ran, it was a giant snake, so I guess it slithered rampant through the school. "But now he's out. The only man who ever escaped from Azkaban."

"For what? You have to give me the whole story, Shunpike."

"He was a big supporter of you know who." He whispered the last part.

"Really? But what about all the other death eaters?"

"They plead that he cursed them into doing those things."

"What about Black?"

"They said the aurors cornered him on a street and he killed thirteen of the muggles!"

I looked at the picture, "Anything else?"

"Anything else?" He scoffed. "He killed thirteen muggles! Well, there was also a rumor that he sold out the Potters and killed their friend to get to them in Godric's Hollow…" That settled it Sirius Black was my new mission. If he sold out Harry's parents, then he'd be after Harry now, too. The bus stopped suddenly again.

"Privet Drive." I ran off the bus. Andi growling when I put her in my backpack. The undetectable extension charm made it possible for me to put her cage in there so that she didn't knock over all the other rubbish I had stacked up. I heard a yowling and barking and a heart wrenched scream. I must have just missed the fun.

Just breaching the roof of the house was the inflated form of one Aunt Marge. She was swollen up like a tick and I laughed as I ran in the house.

The kitchen was a mess, food was everywhere, Vernon was outside calling for his sister, Petunia was watching aghast as her sister in law floated away. The fat young man who I could only assume to be Dudley was eating custard off of his shirt and staring blankly at the television.

"Where's Harry?" I asked him. He looked up at me, very surprised by my presence.

"Who are you?" I heard a slam of drawers upstairs and ran to the foot of the stairs.

"Harry!?" I yelled.

"Nora?" He was struggling to pull his trunk down the stairs.

"Where's Hedwig?"

"I let her out the window."

Vernon came storming in, red faced. "You bring her back! You put her right! This instant!" His words were punctuated with gasps trying to catch his breath.

I pulled my wand out and pressed the point against his fat throat. "Back away from Harry. Your sister got what she deserved." I growled. I could be vicious and threatening when I wanted to be. Vernon caught a glimpse of my mismatch colored eyes and froze.

"You can't do magic outside of school!" He choked out.

"Harry can't but you'll get no such promise from me." I looked up at Harry who was smiling at my antics. "Go outside Harry, I'll catch up with you." Harry brushed past me, his trunk rolling down the sidewalk loudly. I glared at Vernon once more. "Just remember next time you mess with Harry or are cruel to him. Any of you." I looked at all the Dursleys now. "I will know about it and I have less conviction towards muggles such as yourselves." I smiled once more and took my wand away from Vernon's throat. "Ciao." I turned and ran after Harry.

I caught up with him as he was passing a playground. I heard a loud rustling that exceeded the noise of the wind passing through the bushes. Harry and I both looked at the shrubbery on the other side of the road. I could make out two glowing eyes and a long wolf-like snout. The beast came farther out and made a low guttural sound. I pushed Harry back and he fell down. I held my wand up and pointed it at the animal. Just as I was about to petrify it, the Knight Bus appeared, blocking my view. I ran and looked on the other side, but the wolf was gone.

"This is the Knight Bus, transportation for the stranded witch or wizard. Hello, I am Stan Shunpike and I will be your conductor for this evening." Harry looked up at Stan and I laughed as I helped him up.

"This is Sawyer's best friend." Harry looked him over and nodded.

"What were you doing on the ground?" Stan asked, scratching his chin.

"I fell over." Harry went to get his trunk.

"Whats you fell over for? I'll get that, you get on now." Harry and I sat on one of the beds. Some stranger slept at the end covered by his tatty robes.

"I didn't do it on purpose." Harry defended himself.

"Where are we going?" The shrunken head asked.

"The Leaky Cauldron, that's in London."

"Ya hear that Ernie, the Leaky Cauldron, that's in London." Stan teased as he pulled out the Daily Prophet again. I dug around in my bag and tuned out the conversation Harry was having with Stan about Sirius Black. Andi flew out in a flurry of wings and an undignified squawk. She roosted on the bar that held a curtain around the bed, angry at me for hiding her away.

I grabbed the thick stack of letters I had received from the mysterious person over the last few months. I leafed through them until I came to the most recent one that had found me at the Leaky Cauldron this morning.

Tearing it open, I read.

_Nora,_

_I know I have no right to ask this of you, but I must implore you that you keep my letters a secret until such time as I can reveal myself to you. I have kept my identity a secret for both of our safeties. You are such an amazing young woman and I know your parents would be very proud of you. _

_Love, _

_Padfoot_

I folded the letter up quickly and shoved it back in the envelope. These letters gave me an uneasy feeling. I hid them away back into the depths of my backpack.

"What did you say your name was again?" Stan asked, looking closer at Harry.

"The Leaky Cauldron." I pulled Harry off the bus.

"Andromeda, get the trunk." My phoenix stopped pouting and toted the heavy trunk to the curb, dropping it with a thud. She flew away to catch a mouse she'd seen crawling down the street.

Tom waddled out and clapped his hands. "Mr. Potter! Am I relieved to see you." He took Harry's trunk and led him up to the room I had reserved for him. The man led him to another room.

"What's going on?"

The man noticed me for the first time. "Nora? I'm sorry but the Minister wants see Harry alone." He ushered Harry into the room and went to shut the door but I stuck my foot in the doorway to keep it from closing.

"Miss Nora, the Minister of Magic would like to speak to Harry, _alone." _He insisted, I nodded and moved back so he could close the door. I dug through my backpack to get the extendable ear I made for the twins to work on. It wiggled under the door and towards the conversation.

By the time it had wiggled its way to where I could clearly hear, Crouch was telling Harry that he should not be running around considering the state of things.

"State of things?" I mumbled. He must mean Sirius Black. I heard Harry shift and stand up.

I reeled the ear in quickly and walked back downstairs. Sawyer ran to the base of the steps and held up his arms beckoning me with an off-tune love song. I swooned theatrically and slowly stepped down the rough wooded steps. I took one of his hands and we danced sloppily around the bar as he enchanted the piano to spit out a song without someone touching it. He twirled me around and I laughed. Some of the people in the tavern drinking or eating watched us warily, I was surprised Tom hadn't asked us to keep it down. Sawyer and I collapsed onto a bench and laughed. He caught my eyes and smiled.

I smiled back and caught a glance of two young people in the corner snogging their faces off. The girl had her fingers knotted in the boy's hair and looked like she was pulling him over towards her. "I don't know why they find that romantic." I pointed and he craned his neck around to look.

"It's not romantic, it's intimate my little uneducated witch." He patted my head and that childish act turned into something more when he stroked my hair and cupped my face. He leaned closer to me and I couldn't breathe, my heart hammered in my chest the same way it had when Wilhelm had been circling me in the woods last school year, but this was better, much better.

"And you are educated in the ways of such intimacy, Sawyer?" He laughed softly and leaned closer. I closed my eyes and tasted the butter beer on his lips. I felt my hands knot themselves in his thick hair. I yanked him closer to me and he pulled away.

"Nora," he mumbled in my ear softly, "You're pulling my hair too hard." My fingers released and the door burst open. I was smiling at Sawyer and our faces were so close together still I didn't care who had come into The Leaky Cauldron.

"What are you two doing!?" The twins yelled right in front of us. Sawyer and I jumped away from each other like the embarrassed thirteen year olds we were.

"When did you all get in? I thought you were in Egypt visiting my favorite Weasley?" I'd met Bill for a little bit when I visited the Burrow right after school got out. We got along swimmingly. He was into adventure and danger, he had a pony tail and an earring. Every girl's super-star dream boat.

"Don't try to change the subject, Renora." Fred snapped as he and George pressed themselves against either side of Sawyer.

"What are you doing over here with our little sister?" They interrogated in unison. Sawyer was having a hard time picking a boy to look at since they were talking together.

"She's not your…" George grabbed Sawyer's ear and pulled him up.

"She is too our little sister and you will stay away from her!" I was locked between the twins' arms and Sawyer just blushed and smiled as I was pulled away to a different table. I saw the Minister of Magic walk down the steps and I raced over to him.

"Sir, I'm a big fan," I hated him, "and I was wondering if I could get a statement about the recent escape of 'notorious mass murderer Sirius Black' for my weekly newsletter about the Ministry. " I pulled out a notepad and quill from my jacket pocket. Hagrid had taught me a thing or two. I smiled at him and his eyes widened when he saw my eyes.

"Miss, I'm afraid I'm very busy." He tried to sidestep me but I would not let that happen.

"Please just one little quote?" I said quietly, pleading with my eyes.

"Fine, what did you say your name was?" He took my quill and notepad.

"Nora." I hoped that was enough for him.

"Nora, what?"

"Black," he took a sharp breath.

"Are you related to this mad man?"

"Black is a fairly common name, Minister." I lied quickly. "In school I learned that it was one of the thirteen original wizarding families, right? So somewhere along the line we're all related to them one way or another." This didn't appease him as much as I wanted it to. "Please I really do want a quote from you on Sirius Black, I promised my subscribers." It frightened me how easily I was lying to the Minster of Magic.

"Fine," he spoke and the quill wrote by itself, "Sirius Black is a madman who, after murdering thirteen people with one curse in the middle of a crowded street 12 years ago, was imprisoned in Azkaban, when a few weeks ago he escaped by means unknown and has been at large ever since." I took the quill and notepad out of the air.

"Thank you, it's a pleasure to meet you." The Minister watched me closely before he walked to the bar for a stiff drink.

The twins each wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "Nora Black what have you been scheming up without us?" I looked at both of them with the most mischievous grin.

"How do you feel about going on a search for a maniacal murderer?"

"Wicked." They both grinned at me.


	8. Prisoner of Azkaban part 2

I was walking around by myself in Knocturne alley. I had my jacket hood pulled up and wasn't acknowledging anyone around me. I was on a mission to get a few items for the professors at school.

Now most people would be angered at the thought of being an errand girl for grown men and women, but I enjoyed it. It gave me a little extra pocket money and I was learning to wheel and deal with the big boys. I stepped into Borgin and Burkes to pick up a time turner.

"I'm here to pick up Minerva's package." I lowered my hood and made sure my voice was steady and my gaze pierced the man's behind the counter.

"Aren't you a little young to be running around in a place like this?" The man laughed at his joke.

"I'm here for the package. Please give it to me, I am a busy person." He looked me up and down and scoffed.

"Been striking fear into the hearts of men for fifty years and now children come walking up to my counter like it's a sweet shop." He grumbled as he rummaged for the Time Turner.

He dropped it on the counter and I unwrapped the paper to make sure it was in good order. "We agreed on two galleons?"

"Due to unforeseen complication in acquiring such a rare and valuable trinket, the price has inflated to ten Golden Galleons." I rolled my eyes.

"Three, that's my final offer." He glared at me through his dirty glasses and I looked back at him with an emotionless expression, not emotionless, but bored with his weak bargaining tactics.

"Four or leave my shop," I watched him cautiously. He shook his head and I pulled out four galleons laid them on the counter. He bit each one to make sure it was real. I tucked the Time Turner away and grinned at him.

"Thank you for your cooperation." I pulled my hood back up and went on my way to the potion apothecary that, while sketchy, sold some of the things Snape had put in orders for me to get.

I walked out of the potion shop holding the large container of dragon spleens, hoping it didn't spill when someone stopped in front of me. I looked up and the woman gasped, her light blond hair with black underneath reminded me of Draco's.

"Excuse me, ma'am, I'm in a bit of a hurry." I tried to step around her but Lucius blocked my way with his cane.

"Ms. Black, I didn't imagine I would see one as young as yourself in this place of disreputable commerce alone." I tried to move around him again.

"I'd like to point out that you are here with your… wife?"

"Narcissa," she kept looking at my two toned eyes. "You have such familiar eyes…" I laughed.

"Well I can assure you, I'm the only one with one black and one violet colored eye. Now if you'll excuse me, I don't want to get dragon spleen on anyone." Stepping forward, Lucius Malfoy's cane pressed against my chest. "Remove your cane or I shall remove it for you, Mr. Malfoy. Wouldn't want to make a scene would you?" He smiled snidely at me.

"I do so hope you have a pleasant year at Hogwarts." He let me pass and I hurried back to the bustling main street of Diagon Alley. I had to drop off my purchases before I met everyone for ice cream. Sawyer was sitting outside his parents shop, working on fixing a table leg. He looked to make sure his parents were busy and ran over to me. He kissed me quickly and grinned sheepishly.

We stared at each other awkwardly for a moment until his dad called for him to get back to work. He dropped his hands from where they were holding onto my elbows.

"Catch you later," he squeezed my hand and went back to work.

"Bye!" I waved.

I really did like Sawyer, but the more he tried to be my boyfriend, the less I wanted to be tied down with someone. Maybe that sounds too deep for a thirteen year old girl, but I have the sinking suspicion that my life will be too crazy for romance in the coming years.

* * *

I stopped to admire a dress in a shop window when Andi appeared on my shoulder. I resumed my trek to the sweet shop but something in an alley caught my eye. I backed up a few steps and saw a black dog, a mutt really, curled up and shivering. I looked around to see if anyone saw as I walked down to look at it closer. Andromeda squawked apprehensively as I kneeled down to look at the poor thing. One eye opened and I held out my hand for it to sniff. His nostrils flared and his eyes opened wide. I fell backwards in my haste to get up. The dog relaxed and whimpered. I saw that he was skin and bones practically.

"I've got something for you," I opened my backpack and dug around until I found the sandwiches Hagrid had packed me. "They aren't great, I'll admit, but Hagrid, he's my guardian, thinks that I would be absolutely starved when I'm out on my own." I said as I unwrapped the waxed paper and pulled off the pieces of meat. I made a makeshift bowl out of the wad of waxed paper and put all the meat in it. The dog sniffed it once and ate it. "Would you like some water? I bet you would. I'm sure I have something in here I can use for some." I continued digging around in my bag, I pulled out a glass dish filled with the stack of letters that were now wrapped in the newspaper with Sirius Black's face. "You see these? Someone's been sending me letters for a few months now, I don't know who he is, but he knows me, it's very strange." The dog put a paw on the cover of the paper and I nodded. "Yes Mr. Dog, Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban." I filled the bowl with water from my wand. "The magic bit will have to be our little secret. But yes, Black's escaped and from what I hear, he's after my friend Harry. I always protect Harry and this year I have to deal with an alleged mass murderer? I just can't catch a break." I scratched the mangy dog behind the ears, his leg jerked in pleasure. "I really don't know why I'm telling you this, too much time with Hagrid's pets, I suppose. I have to go meet my friends, now. Stay out of trouble, a big black dog like you could be taken for something very nasty and bad when you are actually very sweet." I rubbed his stomach when he rolled over. I refilled his water bowl again. "Sorry again about not having much to eat. Bye." I smiled at the dog and put my letters and newspaper back in my bag. Andi nipped at my ear, jealous that I had given that dog so much attention. "Oy! He was half starved, something you know nothing about you fat animal." She hissed and I shook my head. "Hiss all you want, won't make you any thinner." She sat on my shoulder pouting. I sat down at the sweet shop table with my friends. I turned to sit down my backpack when I saw the dog from earlier watching me from under a flower cart on the other side of the street. I smiled at him and he lay down to pant in the shade.

* * *

"Have I told you two that you need a haircut?" The twins each wrapped an arm around me.

"Only about a hundred times since we stopped being made at you for snogging that boy."

"I wasn't sno-" Sawyer gave me a sad grin from across the bar. "Shut up you two." I pushed away my breakfast and went to pack my backpack.

I had told Sawyer that since I was going back to Hogwarts that maybe we should stop trying to be more than friends. He told me he understood and gave me a record player along with muggle and wizard records that his parents were getting rid of. I hugged him longer than I thought I should after what I had just said, but it felt good to feel his warmth and arms wrapped around me.

I went up to my room and Andi warbled. I felt really horrible about being that way with one of my oldest friends. A tawny owl dropped a letter on my bed and flew off again. I tore it open and sighed; another mystery letter from the mystery sender had arrived. There was a knock at my door.

"Come in," I called as I shoved the letter into my bag. Harry walked in and looked absolutely scared to the core.

"Sirius Black is after me. A murderer is coming after me for God knows why." I put a clip in my hair to pull it out of my face.  
"Does this really surprise you, Harry? You attract trouble like a dog attracts fleas." I grinned at him. "But as long as I'm around neither a murderer nor and manic will get near you."

"Whatever you say, Nora." I grabbed my backpack and Andi latched on to my shoulder.

"C'mon danger bait, we have to get to King's Cross station." I grabbed Harry's hand and Andi apparated us down to the dining room.

"Nora! How many times have I told you to stop using that blasted animal to get down the steps! You're going to catch my pub on fire!" Tom yelled. I waved him off.

"Maybe then you could actually fix the place up a bit, Tom." He shook his head.

Tom and I had a complicated relationship. After I had played the piano here for the first time, he told me I should play whenever I showed up and he'd give me a room for free and one hot meal a day. I couldn't beat that offer so all his jesting was for fun.

"Everyone packed and ready?" Mrs. Weasley smiled and zipped my jacket up higher before we went out in front of the pub to get to the train station. The whole lot of us were herded into the cars the Ministry had sent for us.

"Well Harry, you're getting us the royal treatment." I quipped as I helped jam the others' school trunks into the boot of one of the cars.

"Shut up, Nora." He was still tender about the fact a murderer was after him.

I rolled my eyes and went to get in the car when Sawyer ran out. I turned to him and he gave me one last quick awkward kiss.

"I'll still write to you, I hope you'll write back." I nodded.

"Yeah, of course." He smiled and hugged me.

"Bye." He stepped back.

"Bye." The twins pulled me into the car.

* * *

Andi was curled up in my lap as I talked to the twins about their joke shop plans. Right now they were obsessed with 'skiving snack boxes: sweets that make you ill'. It sounded revolting but I told them that I would help them make them if they gave me the ailments that needed to be in the candy.

The train jerked to a stop in the thrashing rain. I looked out the window, it was dark and too early to be at Hogwarts. I stood up. The lights went out.  
"I'm going to check on Harry."

"We're coming with you." They stumbled in the darkness over their piles of joke plans.

"No, it's fine, he's just a few doors down." I opened the door and was out into the hallway. "Lumos." My wand glowed faintly, now I could at least see where I was walking. I felt a horrible chill in the air. There was a dreadful rattling noise, like the last breath of a dead man. I was face to face with a veiled monster.

The thing reached out a skeletal hand and touched my face. Its touch was cold and clammy and the thing of nightmares. Taking another shaking breath, I felt something inside of me being pulled out. All the happiness in me was being removed and replaced with an all too fresh pain in my veins; vampire venom.

I thrashed around trying to kill my attacker. It hurt too much to move. Everything was black just like when I was dying.

"…she's coming to, look." I rubbed my eyes and looked up. I was in the hall still, but the lights were back on and a sick looking man was watching me intently.

"Miss Black, how are you feeling?" I laughed shakily.

"Is Harry okay?" The twins came into my vision and they nodded.

"He fainted, but he's okay." I sighed.

"How are you feeling?" The man asked again, he looked at my cheek. I looked at all of the scars on his face, too.

"Pretty awful." I sat up slowly and leaned against the wall of the carriage.

I groaned and rubbed my arms, my entire body was so sore.

"Who are you?" I asked the man in tattered robes.

"Professor R. J. Lupin." He shook my hand and I looked at his face again. Somewhere deep down I thought that I recognized him.

"What was that thing?" The twins asked, shaken.

"A dementor, one of the guards of Azkaban." I was rocked with a wave of dizziness and hugged my knees to my chest. Lupin touched my shoulder.

"If you have any chocolate, eat it, it should help." The twins ran back into our car and I heard them digging through their bags for sweets.

Andi nudged my hand and I held her, her warmth not even touching the cold in my body that felt like it would never leave.

"What did it do to me?" I said quietly.

"It feeds off happy memories."

"It replaced mine with agonizing pain."

"Everyone reacts differently to dementors. I'm terribly sorry I don't have any chocolate on hand, I used my last for Harry and the rest of the students who found themselves in my car when the Dementor came 'round." I nodded and the twins came bursting out with a chocolate frog.

"Will this work?" They asked together, holding out the purple box.

"It should be a good start, but I'll ask you to visit the nurse when we reach Hogwarts. I need to have a word with the driver." He stood up and took a few paces away before turning and pointing at the unopened chocolate frog. "Eat, you'll feel better." I ate the frog and the twins helped me into the carriage where I covered up with Fred's jacket and slept all the way to Hogwarts.

I wanted to sleep the rest of my life but Harry shook me awake. The twins were looking at me, concerned.

"Get off you screwy speckled git." I grumbled and Harry just shook me again.

"You have to get up, Nora, we're at Hogwarts." I pulled my arms through Fred's jacket and Andi curled up in my arms. I was still so cold and empty on the inside as I tromped off the train.

I looked at Harry, he looked a bit peaky, too.

"What did the dementor do to you?" I asked quietly, pulling back from the crowd of students.

"I… I heard a woman screaming, and I fainted."

"No pain?" He shook his head. "Did it touch you?"

"No, it hid its hand when I looked at it." We got into the carriage pulled by Thestrals and bumped along the tracks.

Fred and George kept looking at me. "What?" I asked them, a little sharper than I meant to.

"Here, we nicked this from Malfoy when he ran into our carriage when the lights went out." George handed me a bar of chocolate. "Just found it in my pocket." I tore the golden foil and broke off a large corner, handing it to Harry. I bit the remaining part.

When we reached the doors of the castle, McGonagall was waiting for us.

"Potter, Black, Granger, come with me please." I tossed Fred his jacket and Andi took off from my shoulder to go hunt out Mrs. Norris. We all sat down in our housemistress's office in front of a warm fire. I crunched some chocolate, it helped take the edge off of the absolutely horrible way I was feeling.

"I heard there were two dementor attacks on the train." She looked at Harry and me.

"Those are right awful creatures." I rubbed a smudge of chocolate off of my face.

"I want you two to go see Madame Pomfrey." I looked at Harry and he looked as sick as I felt.

"We ate the chocolate Professor Lupin gave us."

"Good, finally a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher who knows his cures," Poppy Pomfrey came bustling in with another bar of chocolate. She broke it in half and gave one to each of us. I pursed my lips. I was not overly fond of chocolate right now. I put it in my backpack and pulled out the Time Turner wrapped in paper still.

"Here's your package, I didn't want to send it via owl." I handed it to McGonagall along with her change. She pushed two galleons back to me and I put them in my pocket.

Harry gave me a funny look. "What?" I asked.

"You're her errand girl?"

"I have to do something to supplement my mischief making."

"You two are dismissed but you must report to Madame Pomfrey tomorrow morning for a full once over before classes." I pulled Harry by his sleeve and we walked out into the hallway.

"That's what you were doing the entire time in Diagon Alley? Buying stuff for the teachers?" Harry was shocked.

"Unlike some of us, Harry dear, my parents didn't leave me a vault full of gold to spend at my leisure." I pulled out my Hogwarts robes and pulled them on over my street clothes; it would have to suffice for the time being.

"What was that thing you just gave McGonagall?"

"It was a package she had ordered and I just picked it up, that's it." It wasn't a whole lie. I did pick it up, in Knocturn alley, at one of the most disreputable shops. Hermione came out of the office beaming as she tucked the Time Turner into her shirt.

"Shall we go to the feast?" She walked quickly to the main hall just as Flitwick was carrying out a stool and the mangy old sorting hat.

"We've missed the sorting," Harry stated obviously.

"If you two don't hurry up, we'll miss the pre-term announcements." I pulled on the horrible pointed hat that was the norm for the beginning of term feast and followed Hermione to the Gryffindor table. The twins waved me over. I saw Neville sitting quietly.

"Hey Neville." I touched his shoulder as I sat down. He spilled some of his pumpkin juice down the front of his robes.

"Hi-Hiya Nora." I smiled and filled my plate with meat pie and potatoes.

"How was your summer? I got your post card from holiday in the tropical gardens. I bet you loved it there." He nodded. He really loved herbology and his gran had taken him to see one of the biggest wizarding gardens in the world.

"Yeah, I loved it. What did you do? Get into trouble with the twins, I 'spose." I shook my head.

"You wound me, Neville!" I took a swig of pumpkin juice. "They were in Egypt. I did my homework and a few other things around the castle and picked up Harry a few weeks before term started." Andi swooped in and landed on Neville's shoulder. She had a rat tail hanging from her beak. I brushed her away and she crawled under the table to finish eating her catch.

Across from me, Dean Thomas and Seamus Finningan were pushed out of the way and replaced with Fred and George.

"So Nora, you and Longbottom, eh?" Fred said with a tick too much jealously to be joking.

"Whatever will the boy at the Leaky Cauldron think?" George sighed. I rolled my eyes and ate some meat pie.

"Did you know, Nora, that's a there's a wizard in Belgium that is growing mutated dirigible plums that can carry off small animals if they are tied to one?" I shook my head.

"I certainly did not, can he grow one big enough to give me a break from these two nosey sods for a bit?" I pointed my fork at the two Weasley's with their choppy haircuts. Mrs. Weasley had forbidden them to go to school with their cute shaggy mops of orange hair so they had consented to letting her cut their hair but they kept jerking around and making it difficult for her. She ended up throwing her hands up in defeat and saying they'd have to live with it.

"Why must you act so cruel towards us, Miss Black?" Fred leaned heavily on his brother, hand thrown to his forehead like he was feeling faint.

"We did save you on the train from the dementor, let us not forget that act of heroism." Neville looked over at me.

"You got attacked by the dementors on the train?" Everyone heard that and looked at me. I felt my face flush.

"It wasn't anything to get worked up about, it was really awful. They suck out your happy memories until you go mad." I shivered at the thought. Harry looked over at me from farther down the table. I waved at him and we continued stuffing ourselves until we looked like fat ticks.

Afterwards, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I all went up to congratulate Hagrid on getting the job as Professor of the Care of Magical Creatures class. I already knew about it, but I felt I should go up and talk to him just the same. He kept saying how grateful he was until he broke down in a fit of happy tears and McGonagall shooed us away. I had Harry and the others leave for the common room and I walked to Professor Lupin who was about to leave using the back door.

"Sir." I called. He turned and looked pale in the light of the Great Hall.

"Miss Black, I'm glad to see that you have recovered from the incident on the train." I nodded.

"I was wondering if you could teach me a protection spell or charm or something to keep the dementors away from me."

"That is very advanced magic, way beyond what is taught in school."

"I think I can handle it. If I don't learn it, at least teach Harry. He told me what he heard when the dementors attacked him. I think it was his mum screaming the night Tom Riddle killed her. I just have this gut feeling, you know? I heard people, my parents, I guess talking about me right before it was replaced with pain, so I'm guessing it's the same principle."

"You are a very bright witch." He said softly. "I will help you learn the spell but in return you must help me with my class, there are certain creatures I come to need in the course of my lessons that must be caught or at least detained."

"I've been helping with that since I started living at Hogwarts. I can manage." He reached out his hand and I shook it.

"You should head up to your dormitory now, it seems your friends have left you behind."

"Goodnight, Professor." I turned and walked out the massive wooden doors.

Outside I slid behind a tarnished suit of armor that had a rickety ladder leading all the way up and around to the Fat Lady's portrait. Now that might sound like a much longer way to get up seven floors but in reality, the ladder was enchanted so it was not very much climbing at all. These were the ways Filch got around so quickly in the castle. I had memorized the Marauder's map and kept it folded up safely in one of the infinite pockets in my rucksack just in case I wanted to see where Harry or anyone else in the school was.

I hoped that it would show me where Sirius Black was, if he ever was stupid enough to set foot in the school so I could avenge James and Lily Potter.

I stepped out from behind the corresponding suit of armor on the seventh floor and heard people talking.

"We need to tell her, Dumbledore, she has the right to know." Snape hissed at the headmaster.

"He would not want her to see him that way." Dumbledore hummed. I heard their footsteps approaching.

"Sir, she needs to know who her father is." I hid behind the armor. And listened.

"Nora knows what she needs to know already, she's a very clever girl." I held my breath when they paused in front of my hiding spot.

"She _is_ clever, and that's what I'm afraid of, Albus." Snape sighed heavily. I imagined him pinching his nose. "She gets in more trouble than the Weasley twins. I already suspect she had the idea of hunting Black down to protect Potter."

"I will talk to her about this, but after what happened on the train this evening, let her relax and enjoy spending time with her friends." Their voices got fainter and I bolted for the Fat Lady's picture. It struck me then that I didn't know the password. I sighed and sat down. Surely someone else would either come or go sooner or later. Andi flew over to me and clacker her beak. The Fat Lady was trying to sing and I covered my ears. I pulled my back pack over to me and dug out the bar of chocolate to eat.

I pulled out a box of jokes I'd picked up for the twins and the boxes of candy I'd gotten for Harry and his friends. There were jelly beans that made the person who ate them sound like a different animal. Little black pepper poppers that exploded in your mouth. I'd gotten a set of chocolate frogs for them to share.

"Pssssst!" I looked around.

"Who was that?" I stood up, shoving my gifts back into my backpack.

"Nora, I know for a fact that all the Gryffindors are in the common room, even the Weasley twins… for once." She grumbled.

"You're going to let me in?" She looked around nervously.

"_Fortuna Major._" The painting whispered.

"Fortuna Major." I smiled and she swung forward. I ran through the passage and was greeted with the raucous laughter of the common room. I handed Harry and Ron their joke candy. I found Neville and gave him his toad back.

"Oh! Thanks Nora, I've been looking for him all over." He stroked the toad and checked him over. The twins came over and cornered me by Neville's armchair.

"So Nora, you and Longbottom over here snogging?" I rolled my eyes and pulled out my box of jokes for them. "You certainly got enough practice with that wizard in the pub."

"Not yet, we're planning on eloping." Neville turned bright red and made a break for it between the twins.

"You wouldn't." They narrowed their eyes and took the box of jokes that I held out for them.

"I will unless you to admit you're both in love with me." They scoffed and searched the goody box.

"You will not elope, Nora Black, unless it's with me." Wood wrapped his arm around my shoulders and I laughed.

"I can't even ride a broom, Wood, however would we leave?" Everyone in the general area stopped talking and looked at me. The twins dropped their boxes of pranks.

"You can't ride a broom?" Fred asked, absolutely shocked.

"No, it's not exactly been on my list of things to do…"

"Never?" George narrowed his eyes.

"No, I missed my first flying class and traded it for more potions lessons." Hermione smiled, it was something she would have done.

"We're going to have to change that Nora." Wood said. "We need a few more reserve players." I shook my head.

"I'd much rather stay on the ground, thank you very much." The common room became hushed. Dumbledore was standing by the doorway. He smiled at us all.

"Nora, if you'll come speak me, please, it won't take but a moment." I looked up at the twins and they nudged me forward. Everyone's eyes were on me. I heard someone whisper,

"Maybe she's related to Sirius Black. That'd explain a lot."

"Sirius Black's daughter?" I felt my breath catch.

Dumbledore put a hand on my shoulder and led me out into the hallways.

"Professor, whatever it is, I'm sure I did it, but why call me out in the middle of the common room? Don't know you know how much gossip there's going to be?" I groaned and looked up at the headmaster.

"Nora, you really must stop caring so much what other people say about you." I scoffed.

"Professor, I don't care who they think my family is, but they're going to turn on Harry. They_ always _turn on Harry when stuff like this happens." I pulled out the newspaper and held up the picture of the madman.

"I've read the article." He waved his wand and a door appeared in a space of empty wall.

"The Room of Requirement?" I shoved the paper in the front pocket of my rucksack as he held the door open for me.

The room was full of pictures. Moving pictures and portraits stared down at me. "Follow me." I stopped and looked at a girl sitting under a tree in the courtyard. She had a short bob and a loose Gryffindor tie around her neck. I saw behind her a duo of Gryffindor boys watching her. There was the shaggy haired boy from the picture in Dumbledore's office and the other one had tawny hair and looked ill.

"Professor, who is this man with Professor Lupin?" Dumbledore doubled back from where he had been standing.

"That is one of my favorite pictures, Harry's mother should walk in at any time. Ah, there she is." A red haired girl walked in and sat down with the other girl under the tree.

"Who are they?" I picked up the picture frame and held it tightly. The dark haired woman looked up and she had violet eyes like one of mine. "That's my mum. It has to be." Dumbledore smiled.

"Yes, she was extraordinary." I hung on to his every word.

"What was her name?"

"Ithaca Eleanor Polaris. But she never went by that, Ithaca was what most people called her."

"What was she like?"

"You can take that picture and we will talk in greater detail in my office." He picked up two other pictures before I could look at them.

We walked up another set of steps to the back of Dumbledore's office.

"What was she like? Was she smart? Was she popular? I bet she was really cool, her hair was cool."

"Your mother was amazing." He sat down at his desk and handed me the other pictures. One was a group picture of James, Lily, my mom, Remus, and two other boys. I'd seen them in Harry's photo album.

"There's Professor Lupin." He pointed at the light brown haired tall boy who looked like he had a bad case of the flu he was just getting over.

"And my mum," I smiled at my mother. She was grinning broadly and looking over occasionally at the shaggy haired boy who had his arm wrapped around her. A mousy looking boy stood on the other side of him.

"He's Peter Pettigrew, I never did understand how he fit in with the lot of them." I looked at the next picture. My mom stood holding the Quidditch cup with Harry's dad.

"She played Quidditch?" He nodded and Fawkes called as Andi soared in to perch with him.

"She was the captain, Harry's dad was the seeker."

"I knew Harry's dad was on the team, but that's it. I don't even know how to fly a broom."

"I want you to keep those pictures, you should have them more than I need them. I think your mother would want you to have them." I looked at the pictures in my lap again and smiled.

"But professor, what about my father? He went to Hogwarts, too, correct?"

"I think that will have to wait for another time, Nora, he would not want you to know about him, yet." I stood up and clutched the pictures to my chest. I looked over at Harry's dad and the shaggy haired boy.

"My dad is Sirius Black, isn't he, Professor." I looked back and Dumbledore was gone. I groaned loudly and slammed the heavy oak door after my phoenix flew to my shoulder.

"I knew he wasn't going to give me an answer, he never does, but at least he gave me these." I held up the pictures and Andromeda leaned down and looked at them. "That's my mum, like I'm your mum. Well not exactly but you know what I mean." Andi pressed her face against my cheek and I took the long way back up to the common room. I wanted to keep the pictures to myself for as long as possible.

"Miss Black, shouldn't you be in your common room?" Snape said in a bored tone.

"I was just to see Professor Dumbledore." I held the picture frames against my chest.

"What is it you've got there?" He held out his hand and I reluctantly handed him the pictures.

"Pictures of my mum." His lips drew a thin line and he scowled.

"I see that, did Dumbledore give you these?" I nodded.

"Yeah, Harry's mum and dad are in them to, but you know that." His eyes lingered on the pictures with Lily.

"Did he tell you who your father is?" I shook my head.

"No, he refused to, did you know him?" I asked carefully to gauge his response.

"Yes." He handed them back to me and I watched him walk away quickly into the dark halls. I looked down at the pictures and knew that my father had to be one of the three other men in the group picture. I didn't want it be the small, weak looking Peter Pettigrew. Lupin would be a good father, I supposed. I got on one of the staircases and it decided to move. I watched the pictures move around and wondered what my mother was like. She was smart and a great flyer. I wondered if I would be as good as she was.

I got back to the common room and everyone was either up in their room or sleeping on the furniture. The twins were nowhere to be seen. I stepped to go to the dormitory when I heard the portrait close again.

"Nora!" The twins hissed, pulling me backwards. My grip on the pictures weren't enough and they clattered on the floor. The twins picked them up, Fred whistled.

"She was a looker, wasn't she?" George said. I tried to get the pictures back from him but he held it above his head which was practically in outer space to me.

"Shut up, that's my mum." Fred held up his picture, too. I jumped up to grab it and that's when they saw the last picture; James Potter and my mother in Quidditch robes holding the cup.

"She played Quidditch, too?" The twins gave my pictures back.

"Yeah, I guess she did." They grabbed that picture and looked at it.

"That settles it, you're going to have to learn now, starting tomorrow afternoon."

"I have class…"

"Well after your class, then." Wood walked down the steps.

"What's all the commotion about?" He was wearing a pair of athletic shorts and an Irish Quidditch team shirt. The twins each wrapped an arm around me to keep me in the conversation.

"Our little Nora's mother was Quidditch captain." They showed her picture to him and I thought Wood was going to have a stroke.

"Your mum was Ithaca Polaris? I loved her! She was the best captain Hogwarts ever had. I read her playbook all the time. It's a classic." He got this far-off dreamy look in his eyes.

I snapped my fingers. "Wood!" He looked back at me.

"Sorry, I would have loved to meet her. She was a force to be reckoned with put with Harry's dad. Best captain, best seeker, and best Quidditch games in the school history." I took my pictures back from the boys and walked up the steps to my room.

I sat the pictures on the bedside table and flopped onto my bed. Andi clucked and curled up on my chest. I stroked her feathers. I couldn't go to sleep now, knowing who my mother had been.

* * *

I woke up the next day to Hermione complaining about Divination. As I rolled out of bed, I caught sight of the picture of my mom and Lily. The two boys in the back had crept up closer and were both reaching out to touch her shoulder but Lily sat down and they quickly walked away out of the picture. I pulled on my robes and shoved my Divination book into my rucksack.

I drug Harry and Ron up to class because Hermione had other classes to get to before she could use the time turner to go back in time for this useless class.

"Where's Hermione?" Ron asked, looking around for her.  
"I don't know, keep walking, it's a long way to the classroom now scoot!" I sighed and kept pulling the still drowsy boys by their sleeves. We got up to the room and were out of breath. Neville was there, sitting on the ground.

"Neville, what are you doing?" I asked, helping him up.

"I couldn't figure out how to get up to the classroom." I sighed and touched the tip of his nose.

"Oh, Neville." I looked up at the trapdoor. "It's time for class, let us in." A ladder rolled down and then became solid. I climbed up and sneezed. The room was hot and smelled funny. Seamus and Dean waved Neville and me over. They pulled up a pouf between them and I pulled out my book. I flipped through the pages and listened as Trelawney spewed her usual vague predictions, she stopped in front of Neville.

"You, boy, is your grandmother quite well?" Neville turned scarlet and nodded.

"I… I think so." He stammered.

"I wouldn't be so sure…" She hmmed and went along talking about this and that. I leaned over Dean and pulled Neville closer.

"Don't listen to her, she's just filling space and wasting air. Be careful to not break a teacup though." Just as I said that, the professor said something loudly.

I leaned up and looked at her. Her bug-ish eyes were trained on me, along with everyone else in the room.

"Did you say something, Professor?" I sneezed again from the perfume coming out of the fire.

"I simply asked you if you'd seen your father of late?" She had the same dreamy tone and I wanted to shake her for saying it in front of the class.

"I don't know what you mean, Professor. I'm an orphan." She stared at me for an uncomfortable amount of time and then slowly nodded.

"Of course, silly me… you!" She pointed at Neville and everyone jumped.

"Yes?" Neville said quietly.

"When you break your first tea cup, could you please pick a blue printed one? I'm rather attached to the pink ones."

The tea was poured and drank it down to its dredges as we had been instructed

We were all jokingly reading each other's tea leaves when Professor Trelawney grabbed Harry's cup and gasped. She muttered something I couldn't hear and then sat down heavily in her chair.

"What is it?" Someone asked.

"THE GRIM!" She shrieked. "Harry has been marked by the grim, it means imminent death." I rolled my eyes. She'd predicted the death of one student every year for as long as she'd been teaching at Hogwarts and so far none of them have come to untimely ends.

Hermione got up and looked at the cup, saying that she didn't think it looked like the grim at all and glowering at the professor when she insulted her aura.

I had taught Hermione that it was okay to stand up to teachers because they were just people, not gods.


	9. Prisoner of Azkaban part 3

After Divination, we all headed to lunch. I took my spot between the twins and Andi flew in, landing on my shoulder to beg for scraps. Everyone enjoyed tossing food into the air for her to swoop and catch.

I had to leave early to help Hagrid set up for his first Care of Magical Creatures class. Andi rode on my shoulder as I cantered down the hill, still eating my hot corned beef sandwich with gravy and mashed potatoes squishing out of the sides. Hagrid was eagerly awaiting me to show me his lesson. My phoenix went to go play in the Forbidden Forest while I was taken to a paddock filled with Hippogriffs. Buckbeak cantered over to me and bowed. I bowed back. I had raised him, even ground up his meat and fed it to him and he respected me for that. Andi didn't like it when I flew him though so it didn't happen very often.

"They're beautiful, Hagrid, it'll go over great." I smiled at him. I heard the bells ring and we made our way back to the hut so we could lead everyone down to the paddock. I moved to stand with Neville. He seemed absolutely frightened by his growling book that he had bound with a couple of belts. I pulled out mine and stroked the spine. It purred and opened with ease.

"Open your books to page ten," Hagrid boomed when he went to pull the rest of the hippogriffs over."

"And how are we supposed to do that?" Draco sneered. I barred my teeth at him and snapped.

"Stroke the spine of course!" Neville shrieked and his book attacked him. I tried to grab it, but the book was viciously ripping his robes. I pounced on the book and rolled with it. I stroked the spine and it calmed down. I helped Neville up and he dusted himself off. I smiled at him.

"Thanks." A Hufflepuff girl gave him a little look over and I smirked and pulled out my wand.

I waved it and Neville's robes stitched themselves back together like new.

"That girl was totally checking you out, Neville." I bumped against his shoulder with mine. He turned scarlet and mumbled that it wasn't true. I sat on one of the boulders so I could watch the class's reactions to the hippogriffs. Harry walked up to Buckbeak and bowed. After a tense few seconds, the hippogriff bowed back. Hagrid was pleased but I kept my eyes on Draco.

I had heard him complaining about Hagrid teaching and how he was going to get him fired so I was keeping a close tab on him.

"Go Harry!" I cheered. Buckbeak soared off while the others swarmed to the rest of the animals.

I was helping Neville with his rather finicky hippogriff when I heard a shrill scream and turned to see Malfoy rolling on the ground clutching his arm. I walked over to him briskly and got down on my knees, acting like I was helping.

"What happened, Malfoy? Buckbeak not appreciate that snarky mouth of yours?" I pushed up his blood stained sleeve and looked at the cut as the others ran over. I squeezed his arm and he wailed. "Maybe you should watch what you say next time, weasel." Hagrid picked him up and hurried with him to the school. The rest of the class followed after him. I stayed to take the hippogriffs back to their barn. I saw I had a little bit of Draco's blood on my hands and I was terrified by the fact that it made me feel… not happy exactly… but excited. I wiped it off the best I could and turned back to the animals.

"Come along, kids, fun is over for the day." Buckbeak came over and nuzzled my hand. I scratched his head. "It's not your fault, baby bird." He pranced off with the others to eat dead ferrets and roll around in the straw.

* * *

Hagrid was so upset. He was blubbering and I had finally gotten him down to his hut and he was having a drink, well, he was having an entire barrel of mead. I was sitting on my bed steaming because of Malfoy's stupid behavior. There was a knock on the door and it was Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"I'm going back to the castle, stay out of trouble, you three." I told them as I brushed past out the door. I didn't know what to do when Hagrid cried.

I was walking past the Whomping Willow and I heard a soft groan. The figure of a man stumbling towards the tree. I ran over and helped Professor Lupin.

"Nora," he said softly, like he was exhausted. "You should not be out at this time of the night." He started to shake.

"What's wrong, Professor."

"I need to get to the passage under the willow." I froze the tree and helped him to the base, he stepped on a knot and a hole opened wide enough for us to slip through. "Stay back, you'll…" he was rocked with a wave of tremors. "…get hurt."

"What do you mean?" I followed him through the passage and we came out in the Shrieking Shack.

"Go back, please, I don't want to hurt you." He growled and started to transform, his limbs twisted and I backed up against the wall. I was standing in front of a wolf.

I held up my hands when he looked up at me with his sad, still human eyes. He made to move towards me and then the big black dog from Diagon Alley jumped between us but I was already transformed. I had been working on being an unregistered animagi all summer because it seemed like a good thing to be able to do. My form was a big Irish wolf hound with silky black fur. My shackles raised and I moved next to the dark dog who looked at me, but then we both circled around Lupin. He whimpered and the stray dog pushed him farther into the shack and into a large room with broken furniture and a collapsed bed. The wolf circled around the bed once and slowly climbed onto it, going to sleep. I sat down on my haunches and cocked my head towards the door when the other dog looked at me telling him to leave. He looked at me with these somber eyes and sat next to me.

As the night drug on, I got lower to the ground and finally I had curled up with my tail over my eyes. I was still very deeply asleep when Professor Lupin touched my shoulder and I jolted awake in my human form. I had learned how to enchant my clothes to transform with me so I wouldn't ever be in an embarrassing state of undress.

"Nora, you should not have stayed here, it was much too dangerous." I yawned and shook my head.

"I wouldn't leave you alone professor. I won't tell anyone either." He helped me up from the floor.

"You are so much like your parents." I laughed a little as we walked down the steps.

"So you aren't my father?" He paused for a moment too long before saying.

"I knew them both very well." We walked through the earthen passage to the Whomping Willow.

"I know how you got all those cuts and scars now." I pulled myself out of the passage.

"I am curious as to how you got yours, though." He gestured to my cheek.

"I got bit by a vampire last year trying to find out about the Basilisk."

"You need to stop making a habit of putting yourself in such life threatening situations." He said it with fatherly concern. I grabbed my backpack from where I had dropped it and swung it over my shoulders.

"People keep telling me that and yet I never listen. Take care, professor, I'm pretty sure there are a pair of red-headed troublemakers searching high and low for me." He gave me a little wave and I ran off to the castle.

* * *

As I had thought, the Weasley twins were borderline manic when I got to breakfast. They glared at me as I sat down between Seamus and Neville and they wedged their way in between them to get on either side of me. I sighed and filled a bowl with my usual breakfast concoction.

"Where were you last night?" George asked.

"I was out."

"Out _where_?" George insisted. Fred looked like he was about to explode.

"I can't tell you that, it's a secret." I wasn't being as cheeky as I could have been given the situation.

That set Fred off. "You never used to have secrets from us, Renora! Now all you ever do is talk to Dumbledore or go off and not tell people where you are or snogging scum that hangs out at the Leaky Cauldron!" Fred slammed his hands on the table, making the plates rattle and everyone looked down at us. He stood up and walked off briskly.

George ran after him yelling, "Freddie! Calm down!"

I lost my appetite.

* * *

Fred was still angry when I found him in the common room. He was simmering in a chair facing the fire place.

"Freddie?" I asked quietly. He wouldn't look up at me. "Please don't be mad." I walked around to face him. He looked down. "Honestly, the secrets I have are important. It is pertinent that I keep them until such time that they are no longer sensitive." He scoffed.

"What are you, some sort of secret agent for Dumbledore?" I didn't answer him and then he looked up at me and the dark humor slid from his eyes. He stood up. "Bloody hell. You are! That's why you go out in the Forbidden Forest so much by yourself and how you got bit by the vampire!" I sighed and Freddie stood up, towering over me. "Is that where you were last night? Doing something for the headmaster?" I shrugged and he crushed me in a hug. "My little sister is a secret agent, oh what a happy day." I pulled away.

"Why do you keep bringing up Sawyer and me kissing? You know we're not a thing and yet you insist on talking about it all the time."

He ushered me towards the exit. "My dear sweet Renora Black, someday you will develop a taste for wizards better suited to yourself." I furrowed my brow and he and I walked back down to go to our classes.

* * *

I was walking down the hallway when Lupin appeared, opening the door to the staffroom. "Ah, Nora, would you mind assisting me for a moment, I need your help in securing a boggart for class today." I stepped into the staffroom.

"Cutting it a little close, aren't we professor?" I heard a faint rattle. It seemed to be coming from a wardrobe. I walked closer and it pounded against the walls inside the wooden closet. "It's in here, why did you need my help finding something that was already locked in a wardrobe?"

"I admit that was a less than cunning ruse to speak with you in private." I crossed my arms and looked at the teacher. "What you did last night, was very brave, but also very stupid. You should have just left me to my own devices." I shook my head.

"I couldn't leave you alone like that, you were very scared and very alone. You wouldn't have hurt me."

"Your animagus form is very impressive, it takes a lot for someone to be able to transform like that." I curtsied.

"Thank you, I thought it might come in handy, and it did." The boggart rattled the wardrobe more viciously. "We should be getting to class." After the rest of the class had come into the room, we were all marched right back to the staffroom for class after the Professor and I showed up late. Lining up, Lupin taught us how to take care of a boggart. As we lined up, I got behind Neville to reassure him after Snape made a biting remark towards him being bad at everything. I glowered at the teacher, he was in a foul mood.

Lupin explained to us the spell we would need to use to confuse the boggart, _Riddikulus, _but also that we needed to laugh.

"You can do it Neville." I squeezed his shoulder and stepped back to give him room.

"Neville, what frightens you most in the world?" Lupin said softly.

He murmured something that no one could hear.

"Come again?"

"Professor Snape!" He said quickly. Everyone laughed.

"You also live with your grandmother, correct?" Neville nodded.

"But I don't want that boggart to change into her either!" We all laughed again. Lupin smiled and said something quietly to him. "Ready, Neville?" He nodded and held his wand out in front of him.

Neville looked at the boggart and it turned into Snape. "_Riddikulus!" _He had a lacey dress, red handbag, and hat festooned with a vulture. I doubled over with laughter. Most of the class got to face the boggart but when Harry and I got up Lupin jumped in front of us and the Boggart turned into a full moon. It quickly deflated and was driven back into the wardrobe.

"And that will conclude the lesson for today." Everyone filed out of the room, buzzing about the boggart. I stayed back and looked at Lupin.

"I know why you kept Harry from facing the boggart, it could turn into all sorts of bad things but why me?" I blocked the door so he had to answer me.

"Nora, I think we both know why I wouldn't let you face the boggart." I stepped aside and let him walk past me, he stopped, "But the room will be empty for a while, if you're still curious." He shut the door. I pulled out my wand and flicked my wrist, the wardrobe opened slowly and I waited… I waited for the boggart to come out. There was nothing. I stood there, wanting to see what my greatest fear was but the Boggart didn't transform. The door to the staffroom opened and Snape walked in.

"What are you doing in here alone, Black?" I slipped my wand into my pocket.

"I thought I was going to deal with a boggart, but it must have been taken care of after my class." I went to walk out and Snape put a hand on my shoulder to stop me.

"I wouldn't put too much stock in boggarts." I walked out but I swore I heard the wardrobe rattle.

* * *

I was out in the Black Lake tromping around trying to get a kappa to grab my ankles or hands so I could catch it. Lupin watched from the shore and Gisborne watched from a hidden area in the woods.

"Did you know my father?" I asked, standing up to stretch my back.

"Yes."

"Was he… a good man?"

"I thought so."

"What happened to him?"

"He changed."

"How?" I was yanked quickly into the murky water and was disoriented. The kappa was reaching for my neck and I grabbed its hands and struggled to the surface. The writhing monkey like creature screeched and tried to bite me. I couldn't grab my wand because I had to hold onto it with both hands. Lupin immobilized it and put it in a bag. I was soaking wet and the breeze off the water wasn't helping me. I was shivering but wasn't going to say anything. "How did my father change?"

"That's not a conversation you should be having with me, Nora." I dried myself off using my wand and sighed. I gave a discreet wave to Gisborne to tell him I was done.

* * *

It was the beginning of October and that meant Quidditch would be starting up soon and everyone was in high spirits. Hagrid was sadly stuck doing very boring lessons for Care of Magical Creatures since he was being watched closely after the Malfoy incident. Everyone except the sticks in the mud Slytherins enjoyed Lupin's class. I was exchanging my services catching different beasts for his class in exchange for details about my mother and very rarely, my father.

But right now I was sitting with Wood on the love seat in the common room. He had his arm stretched along the back of the seat and was re-reading my mom's old notes and plays from her Quidditch days. I was leaning on his arm working on my transfiguration homework while the rest of the students quietly did their work. Do not misunderstand what was going on here. Wood and I were friends and he saw me as a friend and I didn't have nearly the crush on him I did before. This was his last year at Hogwarts.

"Nora, I'm going to move my arm because it sounds like your two personal body guards are about to come in and cause mayhem." As he said that, the portrait swung open and the twins came in, big grins on their face but when they saw me sitting next to Wood they made a bee line to me. Fred and George towered over me and I smiled at them.

"Good evening." I stood up and Wood handed me my books.

"Dear Nora, we have a few plans we would very much like to go over with you." The twins escorted me to a different part of the common room.

I could have been imagining it but I could swear that Fred kept shooting Wood daggers as they talked about more of their products they wanted to add to their mail-order gag company.

* * *

After Quidditch practice started, I hardly saw Fred, George, Harry, or Wood so I spent most of my time rounding up creatures for Lupin and having Gisborne help me with my astronomy homework. Everyone seemed to have dropped the fact that Sirius Black was loose and that I was very likely his daughter.

My birthday rolled around and the twins accosted me as soon as I had walked down the steps with a hug. "Happy Birthday Nora Black!" They cheered and I groaned.

"It's too early in the morning for this, guys." They quickly marched me down to breakfast.

"Hurry up and eat, we're going to Hogsmead today." I shook my head.

"No can do, I have to go catch a grindylow today."

"But it's your birthday." George whined.

"Nora!" Someone yelled from the end of the Great Hall. I looked and Seamus came running towards me full speed. He came to a sliding stop in front of me and I turned to face him.

"Where's the fire, Finnegan?" He blushed and held out a package for me.

"Happy Birthday." He said and waited for me to open it. I pulled the string and pulled off the paper to reveal a small stack of records of popular muggle music. I jumped up and hugged him. He wrapped his arms around me and we both blushed. Lately, Seamus had been acting like he liked me as more than a friend and it hadn't been completely unreciprocated.

"What in bloody hell are these?" Fred held them up. I grabbed them out of his hands and whistled. Andi materialized on the table, still eating a chocolate cake Hagrid had sent up last night. I held out the records and I swear the phoenix sighed at having to fly them up to my hideout.

"Go on you bloody bird, it's my birthday, be nice." She finished her cake and grabbed the albums and took off.

"Are you going down to Hogsmead?" Seamus gave me a crooked grin and I shrugged.

"I have to take care of something this morning but how about I meet you at The Three Broomsticks at one for a butterbeer?" The twins scoffed and I could feel them brooding.

"That sounds like fun." He looked at the twins and then walked away, face still red.

I turned around and grabbed one of both twin's ears. "I swear if you boys do anything to him, I will turn you into ginger slugs." They frowned and Fred's ears were turning red but he didn't say anything.

"I'll even spend some time running around with you two sods when I get done with the water monster hunting. Even though we've been down there hundreds of times before." They wrapped their arms around me.

"We knew you'd come around, we have to get your birthday present anyway." I heard a horrible screech and Errol came flying in with the rest of the mail owls and he slid along the table knocking off plates and food as he went with the big lumpy package he was carrying. I opened it and inside was a letter from Molly wishing me a happy birthday along with a lilac sweater that had a pattern of feathers knitted in varying shades of purple.

"You know she only sends you those because you said you liked them."

"I do like them, very much." I pulled it on to replace my jacket. "It's not my fault you only get the letters of your first names."

I went back to eating but then Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville sat down across from us. Hermione smiled and held out a package.

"This is from Ron and me, since he forgot all about your birthday." He stuck his tongue out at her and blushed.

I opened the box and inside was a set of small colorfully bound books.

I wasn't surprised Hermione got me books but when I pulled one out I was ecstatic.

"Is this the entire set of 'Know-everything' books?" They were a set of books that were honestly jammed full of every that you would need to know practically. Survival, first aid, edible plants, things like that.

"It is." She beamed at me and I smiled from ear to ear. The twins looked even glummer.

"Thank you, Hermione, and Ron."

"Here you go, Nora." Neville handed me a heavy box and I was wary.

I opened it to find a little cauldron. Inside was a thin ashy powder. "Did you get me floo powder?" He nodded and grinned.

"I thought you shouldn't have to use Andi to get everywhere and you never know when it can come in handy." Harry handed me a brown paper-wrapped soft bundle.

"Not regifting one of mum's sweaters are we Harry?" George teased.

"No, I hope you like them. I had to have Hagrid pick it up since I'm not allowed to go to Hogsmead." Inside was a pair of enchanted tights that showed the Irish Quidditch team flying around throwing a quaffle to each other. I climbed over the table and hugged my friends. Everyone was so wonderful. I'd never had a better birthday.

The twins frowned and ate their food. I went to take my things up to my room when I ran into Professor Lupin.

"What do you have there, Nora?" He asked, taking a bite out of a chocolate bar.

"Birthday gifts from my friends." He smiled lazily.

"I didn't know today was your birthday."

"I don't think it actually is, sir, it was just the day I was dropped off at the orphanage. I didn't have much in the way of information on my past, just a note pinned to my wrap that said my name was Nora Black." I shrugged when he gave me a sad look. "It's not a big deal, I keep waiting for you or Snape or Dumbledore to confirm that Sirius Black is my father or not. I just want to know what happened." I smiled and told him I'd be back down to get the grindylow.

* * *

The giant squid had helped me catch the water demon but now I had to get it up to the castle without it strangling me. Gisborne carried the tank on his back to the grounds and then I helped Andi keep it steady as we made our way to the doors. Remus met me and took the tank.

"Thank you for that, Nora, now if I heard the Weasley twins grumbling earlier, you have a very important appointment at The Three Broomsticks."

I blushed, "Thanks." I hurried past him to the One-Eyed Witch Passage. Andi appeared and sat on my shoulder.

I slipped down the passage and ran to Honeyduke's cellar. I slipped up the stairs and out without anyone seeing me. The Three Broomsticks was at the end of the street and I stopped when I saw the big black dog watching me from the shadows. I stepped into the narrow space between two buildings.

"What are you doing here?" I had been very confused when he showed up at the Shrieking Shack but hadn't thought much of it.

He sat down and gave me a look that made him seem more human. He had gained a little weight or maybe it was fur for the winter. I petted his head and scratched him behind his ears. Andi nipped my ear and gave the dog a mistrusting look.

"I have to go meet a boy at The Three Broomsticks, but you need to stay out of trouble, okay?" I walked to the pub and found Seamus sitting in one of the corner booths that hid us from the rest of the pub. I slid in next to him and he pulled his frothy butter beer away from his mouth, leaving a line of foam on his upper lip. I smiled at him and rubbed the end of my sleeve over his mouth to wipe it away.

"Thanks." He blushed and slid mine over. I sipped it and grinned.

"This is really good." He nodded and we drank a little more.

After a comfortable silence Seamus looked over at me. "I like you. I mean I like you as more than just a friend." I nodded.

"I think I like you more, too, Seamus." He smiled.

"Honest?" I nodded.

"I mean, I don't know exactly what I feel, but I know I enjoy spending time with you."

"Me too." I heard a rustle by the door. There were two flashes of bright orange hair and one twin drug the other out the door kicking and hitting. I sighed.

"I think that the twins won't be too happy."

"They can sod off, both of them, especially Fred, need to stop being so protective of you, it's really annoying." I looked at him.

"No it isn't, they're my friends and they look out for me." I went to get out of the booth and Seamus touched my arm.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that to sound as bad as it did."

I sat back down and looked at him.

We talked a little more and I drank down my butterbeer. Dean Thomas came over and I excused myself. I had to go find the twins.

I walked into Zonko's and smiled. This was one of my favorite places. All of the jokes and pranks called my name. I saw George and Fred arguing in the back of the store. I snuck around and listened to them.

"…have to stop trying to sabotaging all of her dates."

"But he's just a right foul git, always blowing stuff up."

"You know that isn't true. Well he does blow stuff up, but he isn't a git and you just won't admit you like her as more than your best friend." Fred scoffed.

"I don't! I just think that she picks bad guys to like."

"Whatever, Freddie, I bet she's done now let's go find her." I waited for them to walk away so they didn't know I had been listening. I now knew why Fred had been such a pain lately. I just wanted to believe it was because he truly didn't like the guys I liked.

I walked up behind the towering ginger twins and slipped my arms through one crook of their arms.

"Hello, lovely weather we're having this evening."

"Quite smashing, yes, quite smashing, dear." We all stuck our noses in air and kept a haughty tone while we walked out of the store.

"My father shall hear about this weather." I sniffed like Malfoy.

"He will never read the letters. He's much too busy brushing his ponytail." We cracked up and found our way to the Shrieking Shack. We sat there and looked at the dilapidated old house for a while and shared a box of Bertie Bopp's.

"I don't think I'm going to date Seamus." I finally said.

"Why?" George said with amusement.

"He doesn't understand why I spend so much time with you two weirdos."

Fred smirked. "We don't either."

"But Oliver though…" I sighed forlornly. Fred slapped his hand over my mouth and his ears turned red.

"Don't be serious. Mum would have a coronary if she heard about you being with a seventh year." George nodded.

"Every letter she sends us has some part about taking care for you."

"Why?" Even though I knew why, it was still nice to hear it.

"She has adopted you and Harry as honorary dark haired Weasleys at this point."

"Never shuts up about you when we're there, 'now you stop getting Nora into so much trouble' or 'keep Nora out of trouble' my personal favorite being 'she must get it all from being around you two so much!'." Fred said with a laugh. We stood up and I ran towards the Shrieking Shack after I jumped the fence.

"Let's prove her wrong! I'm just as much as a mischief maker as you two!"

They ran after me and chased me through the empty house howling like banshees. I stopped when I got up to the bedroom. I looked at the walls. There were huge scratches and slashes in the wallpaper. I walked to the window and looked up at where we had been sitting. A group of Hogwarts students were gathered around but they weren't looking at the house. There was a flurry of activity and I realized that someone was getting beat up. I grabbed a pair of binoculars and looked. They were all Slytherins and I saw that one of them was kicking Thatcher. I growled and dropped my backpack. I ran out of the room and past my friends. "Watch my stuff, I have some arse to kick." I growled again and turned into my massive wolf hound form and bounded out of the house towards the group of kids. I got to the edge and snarled. All the kids looked at me in fear and most of them, the smart ones anyway, ran off. I growled at the remaining three boys. Surprisingly, it wasn't Malfoy and his goons, these were three sixth years who I hadn't met. I made like I was going to attack them and they finally ran off. I looked down at Thatcher and whined. I transformed back into a human and kneeled next to him. He was bleeding and I frowned.

"Bloody hell, Nora."

"Why were they hitting you?" I said, still fuming.

"They don't think it's awfully funny that I don't particularly fancy the fairer sex. Let's get back to the fact that you were just a big bloody dog."

"That isn't what matters. Why didn't you fight back?" I pulled him up into a sitting position.

"Because if I fought back, they'd just hit harder."

"You need to hit back."

"Renora Lily Black!" The twins yelled at me, running from the house.

I helped up Thatcher and cringed when the twins got to me.

"Why didn't you tell me you were a bloody animagus?" I sighed.

"Because it never came up in conversation."

"You need to tell us what's going on. _Now." _ I sat back down on the ground.

"I got bored over the summer so I decided that I should try and be an animagus. You don't particularly get to pick the animal you turn into. Mine's a bloody big black dog. Don't call me the Grim or I'll hex you for a year."

"That's bloody amazing." I nodded and Thatcher sat next to me putting his handkerchief to his bleeding lip.

"Thanks." I rubbed my neck. It still was really exhausting to transform but I had read that it would get easier with practice. I heard the bells ringing signaling we needed to get back to the school. I rode on Fred's back to the Shrieking Shack. "Now Thatcher, I'm keeping you on your honor you won't tell anyone about this secret passage because if you do, I'll never speak to you again." He nodded.

"Cross my heart." Fred grumbled something about sharing all our secret tricks but I just rolled my eyes and pointed to the little trapdoor that led to under the Whomping Willow.


	10. Prisoner of Azkaban part 4

Harry was bombarded with treats Ron and Hermione had bought for him in Hogsmead. Andi acted cross with me since I had gone out when I had told her I was staying at the castle and she wouldn't come down from the rafters of the common room.

I had to go down and help set up for the Halloween feast as punishment for setting off a package of stink bombs I had slipped in Crabbe's, Goyle's, and Malfoy's robes. They deserved it and I didn't care that Snape had given me another detention on my birthday. It was practically a tradition now.

I went to the dungeons to get the boxes full of enchanted pumpkins. Snape was walking out of his office and looked at me. "Good afternoon, professor."

"Good afternoon, Miss Black." I kept walking towards the storage closet. "Stop, for a moment. I need to speak with you."

"Yes, sir?"

"You should take care, running around the way you do with professor Lupin, there's a killer on the loose and I would think that it would not do for you to be out after dark." I nodded politely.

"I'll take care, thank you sir." I grabbed the boxes and he was gone by the time I came out.

* * *

The feast was great as usual. The twins wanted to tell everyone and their aunt about me being an animagus but I kept jibbing them in the ribs. Seamus kept making faces at me to get me to smile.

After we had filled ourselves with all the food we possibly could, Seamus held my hand as we were in the big group of kids going back up to the common room. I was smiling and laughing until the crowd stopped moving. There was a murmur that turned into a panic. I squeezed through the crowd and the twins pulled me to them. The Fat Lady was gone, her picture was torn and slashed to ribbons. I closed my eyes and sighed. Percy came up and told everyone to calm down. Dumbledore appeared and it was revealed, via Peeves, that it had been Sirius Black.

Dumbledore told everyone to go to their houses and for the Gryffindors to go to the Great Hall. I didn't even bother moving. The headmaster looked at me,

"Nora, I hear that you have become quite the animagus. I need you to try and sniff out an intruder."

"Professor, I don't think it works that way." He gave me a stern look and I sighed. "Fine." I handed him my backpack and robe, my dress underneath was enchanted. I transformed into my large wolf hound form and started sniffing around the picture.

I ended up having to search the entire castle. I kept getting hints and whiffs of someone new but as soon as I picked them up, they were gone. I finally caught a strong trail and I let my nose lead me up staircases and through secret hallways. I ended up right outside my secret room. I transformed back into a human and drew my wand. I pushed open the door and rushed in, scanning to room. There was someone standing at the window.

"Sirius Black." I said with a rock steady voice.

The skinny, sick looking man turned slowly and I saw that this was not a mad man, this was a sad man. He looked at me in the shaft of moonlight and I saw his eyes widen and a very slow, big smile spread across his face. "Renora." He said softly. I knew in that moment he was my father and that I would never hurt him.

"It's just Nora." I took a step closer to him.

"I am sorry to have us meet like this." I sat down on my piano bench.

"Are you here to hurt Harry? Did you betray the Potters? Please say you didn't. Everyone has been saying so many terrible things about you and I really couldn't say one way or another but I also didn't know you if were my dad or not and it's been so confusing and I want to know why you left me at an orphanage and no one will tell me anything and—" Sirius Black was crushing me in a hug.

I was crying. "I will answer all of your questions." I hugged him tight.

"Okay." We sat on some cushions and he answered all of my questions as well as he could.

"No, I'm not here to hurt Harry, I would never hurt Harry. He's my godson. I didn't betray the Potters, Peter Pettigrew did and that's why I'm in the castle." I went to speak and he held up his hand. "I'm obviously your father, from what I've seen you've inherited your mother's looks and my mischief. Now about the orphanage…"

I pulled a blanket around my shoulders and listened to my past.

"You're mother and I were never formally married. She played hard to get even after we got out of school. It was when we were in the Order of the Phoenix together that we… became closer and then we fell in love which just about broke Remus's heart, he loved her, too. You came along and we were happy. We lived together in Godrick's hollow near Lily and James. When Harry came along, you never saw two babies who enjoyed each other's company more. Everything was fine until Peter Pettigrew gave up our secret. Bellatrix Lestrange, my retched cousin came to our house while Voldemort went to the Potter's. I was out on a quick mission for the Order and your mum was home looking after you." I twisted the ends of my blanket nervously, "Bellatrix came in and tried to kill you. She thought you were an abomination because even though your mother was a pure-blooded witch, and I a pure-blooded wizard, we were too unlike our families. You were so strong, even then. Your mum grabbed you and distracted Bellatrix long enough to get out of the house and was running towards Lily, James, and Harry but she didn't make it. Bellatrix killed her but you were holding on to your mom and the curse passed through your body leaving only a scar on your back." Sirius took a deep breath and wiped away a tear.

"So I should have died?"

He nodded. "To this day I have no idea how you survived. I came back as soon as I felt something wrong. I found you in your mother's arms. Hagrid had dug out Harry and I asked him if I could take him, because I foolishly thought I could take care of you both. He told me that Dumbledore had ordered that he be sent to those vile Dursleys's. I gave Hagrid my motorbike and knew that everyone thought I had been their secret keeper and I would be hunted to the ends of the earth. The funny thing about you, Nora, is that you were never processed through a hospital or the ministry. You were born in such a hectic time that it never really came up." He laughed softly. "You were born behind the bar in a little pub while Remus, the Longbottoms, James, and I all battled Death-eaters. We didn't have time to make it official. You don't have the trace on you because legally, you don't exist, that's why you can do magic outside of school without getting penalized by the ministry."

* * *

It was early morning by the time I left, even though I had been awake all night, I wasn't tired. I had told Sirius that he would be safe up in my secret hide away. He was exhausted and hungry so I gave him some of the candy I had stashed away with the promise of real food as soon as I could swing it.

It was early enough that I knew everyone would still be down in the Great Hall having one big Percy Weasley approved sleepover so that's where I headed. The big oak doors were silent as I slipped through. There were a bunch of squishy purple sleeping bags filled with the sleeping forms of my fellow Gryffindors. I saw the twins had set up camp in front of the unlit fireplace and I walked over to them and curled up between the two boys, using my jacket as a blanket. I shut my eyes and smiled. I finally had a father.

* * *

Sirius Black was all that the school could talk about after that. It was harder and harder to get away from my friends and go up and visit Sirius. He needed to get out of the castle but I hadn't found a suitable place besides the Shrieking Shack and with winter coming up, I didn't want him in that cold shanty.

We talked about a lot of stuff. I told him about the twins' and my pranks. I thought he would alert the entire school with his laughter when I told him about putting the dung bomb in Lucius Malfoy's pocket last year. It made me very happy to hear him laugh. He was proud of how much of a mischief maker I had become. He was considerably less enthused when I told him how good I was at potions and how Snape was giving me advanced lessons. I also talked about Harry and how he was a Quidditch star. The team was practicing every night until dark and their first match was coming up soon. I told Sirius that if he could swing it, he could sit in one of the abandoned house boxes so he could watch it. He said that it would be the day he went to the Shrieking Shack. I couldn't argue with him on that because the teachers had been eyeing me suspiciously ever since Halloween.

The day of the Quidditch match arrived with freezing temperatures and pounding rain. Sirius had found a sheltered spot up in one of the seating towers and I went down to wish my friends luck.

"Oliver." I said to the stressed out seventh year. He jumped and slammed shut his play book.

"Nora, you scared me."

"Switch to decaf Wood." I hugged him and he squeezed me tight.

"I just have to win the Quidditch cup, I just have to." I smoothed his hair and smiled.

"You will, Oliver, you will." I kissed him on the cheek as the twins bounded over. I hugged them together and wished them luck. I wanted to enchant Harry's glasses so they would be impervious to the rain but Seamus was looking for me. I pulled my hood up and he ran over to me holding a big scarlet and gold umbrella.

"Ready to go up and watch the game?" I nodded and he grabbed my hand. It was okay that he was holding my hand but it didn't feel the same as when Sawyer held my hand in Diagon Alley or anything close to the way I felt when Fred grabbed my hand.

I was soaked with rain even with the umbrella. Seamus pulled off his jacket and I pulled it on over my cold, wet, Weasley sweater, this one was patterned with Quidditch snitches. I dried myself off and made the jacket impervious to the rain. I did the same for Seamus and Neville who appeared next to me. The game was hard to follow since the rain was so thick. I could barely see the players and Angelina almost flew into the railing. I had yelled at her to pull up and by some miracle she heard me over the din of the rain because there was no way she could have seen the wall in time.

I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up. My scars started to ache and burn and I knew the dementors were near. Seamus touched my arm when I whipped around to see where they were. A massive group of the happiness sucking demons. I looked for Harry but I couldn't see him through the rain. Seamus grabbed me when my knees gave out from the phantom pain rolling through my body.

"What's wrong?" He was so worried.

"Harry…"

I fought through the crowd even though the closer I got to the field and swarm of dementors the more I hurt. I reached the muddy ground and I struggled to walk. A dark form was falling from high in the air and I pulled out my wand.

"_Arresto Momento!" _I yelled and Harry's body slowed. Dumbledore ran out as I fell to my knees and took care of Harry. I fell on my hands and gasped for breath. The mud seeped through my pants and I felt two people lift me up and help me off the field. We stopped outside the locker room I sat on the bench, catching my breath.

The twins squatted down in front of me and both had a hand on my shoulder. "You okay?" They asked in sync and I nodded. Remus ran to me and searched his pockets for something.

"Here, eat this." He held out a big chocolate bar and I snapped off a big chunk of it. I told Remus thank you and the twins were reluctant to leave me. I told them that I wanted them to go check on Harry because I would be up to the medical wing in a little while. They refused to leave without me so I was drug up to the castle to be looked over by Madame Pomfrey.

I sat down on a bed and everyone on the Quidditch team swarmed around Harry. The twins sat on either side of me. Oliver hadn't come up here because he was upset that he had lost even though Diggory had caught the snitch fair and square. I sighed. Ced would feel bad about that for a long time. I helped him with his potions homework and he was such a nice person that he would be the one to ask for a rematch.

I snuck out of the hospital wing when Hermione and Ron brought up the bad news about Harry's broom. The trip down to the boy's showers was a cold one but I waited outside for Wood. He either wanted to drown himself or stay in there forever. I knocked on the door and didn't get an answer but I could hear the shower going. I walked in, the showers were hidden so it wasn't like I was looking at naked Oliver. I heard someone mumbling angrily.

"Ollie?" I said softly, using the nickname I only brought out in private for Wood. Oliver stuck his head out from behind the shower wall and his eyes got wide. I turned around.

"Bloody hell Nora! What the hell are you doing in here?!" I heard the screech as he turned off the water and the snap of his towel when he pulled it off the side. He stepped out of the shower with the towel wrapped around his waist. I covered my eyes.

"I just came to make sure that you weren't going terminally Myrtle and flood the bathrooms." He laughed and I smiled, hands still firmly clasped over my eyes. He walked past me and grabbed his stack of clothes. "When you didn't answer when I knocked I assumed the worst. I came in expecting to see you in tears, sobbing in the shower like some sad teenage girl after a dance goes badly."

He pulled my hands away from my face and held them. He was a head taller than me. My heart was pounding more it should have been. The water from his hair dripped down his neck and I kept my eyes on the growing wet spot on his shirt collar.

"There'll be other Quidditch matches, Ollie, you lost by what? A hundred points? That's not a big deal. You can easily make that up, if Ravenclaw beat Hufflepuff by-" Oliver pressed his lips against mine. I froze. He pulled away and we both turned red.

"Sorry." I nodded at his apology and we just looked at each other awkwardly.

I didn't know why I was about to do what I was about to do but I knew I had to do it or else I'd feel bad for not doing it. I put my hands on the sides of his face and smiled.

"You're a much better Quidditch player than kisser, Wood." He rolled his eyes.

"I knew you were going to say something stupid like that. I didn't mean anything by that kiss, I don't know why I did it."

"Maybe to make me shut up about Quidditch."

"Let's go get something to eat, I'm starving." I knew he was covering up that he felt really bad about losing the game and I didn't want to think about the little kiss he just planted on me. I had Seamus, he was a good boy who cared about me.

* * *

"And then he went and bloody kissed me!" I paced around my dormitory with Andi on my shoulder talking to Hermione. I rubbed my eyes.

"You went into the boys' showers?" I groaned.

"Do try and keep up dear, he was clothed." For most of the time. "What should I do about the kiss? It didn't mean anything but if I tell the twins, they'll be furious, if anyone else finds out that I kissed a seventh year, they'll think I'm a slag." I sighed and flopped onto my bed, squeezing my pillow to my chest and Andi rubbed her face against mine.

"I think that you shouldn't tell anyone." I looked up.

"Really?" She nodded.

"It seems like it's more trouble than it's worth." I nodded.

"I agree." I got up and went to check on Harry who was still despondent over his broom being smashed when he fell. I walked into the common room and Oliver looked at me from the table. I blushed and he winked at me. I hurried out and to the hospital wing.

* * *

Everything was fine for a few weeks, Oliver and I got back to normal, although it still felt a little off kilter between us. Seamus backed off a little but he did dance with me when I brought my record player into the common room to play some music.

Now I was walking to lunch. It was the end of November and Wood's spirits were high since Ravenclaw smashed Hufflepuff in their Quidditch match. The twins and Harry had practice this morning and I was going to hang out with Thatcher in the herbology greenhouses because they were warm. The doors banged open and every head in the Great Hall turned and two red-faced twins came storming towards me. I stood, frozen as they charged me.

"YOU KISSED OLIVER WOOD!" They both yelled loud enough for everyone to hear. I heard snickers rise up throughout the hall. Wood walked through the door looking miserable. I pushed my way past the twins and ran out, bumping into Wood as I left. I gave him a venomous look.

"You _told _them? Even when you know it would make things horrible?" I hissed and continued past him. The twins ran after me. I tried to shake them but they were persistent. I turned and faced them on one of the moving stairways.

"When did he tell you?" I covered my face with my hands. I wiped the tears off my face and looked at them. When they saw I was crying, the anger in their faces turned to concern and they hugged me.

"He didn't tell us." Fred muttered.

"Not exactly." George said, pulling off his practice robes.

"We may have slipped him some veritus serum we nicked from Snape into his water bottle because he'd been acting all weird lately." Fred said.

"How the hell did I come up?"

"We didn't realize it had worked and while we were in the locker room, George said something about you and then Oliver just spilt the beans. You'd think he'd given up his entire play book by the look on his face when he realized he said it. Gave Harry a right good shock, too."

"You two have to make this right. Everyone's going to think I'm just some slag now and it's because you two couldn't leave well enough alone." They furrowed their brows.

"No one would think that, Nora." I shook my head.

"I'm a third year, my best friends are fifth year _boys _and Oliver is a seventh year so everyone probably thinks there's something going on between me and at least one of you two and now they think I'm shagging Oliver." I groaned and the twins frowned.

"Sorry." They said together and I shook my head.

"I wish you two would just know when you need to stay out of my business." I walked off to meet Thatcher, he'd listen to me and give me the best advice he could.

I sat down in an armchair and Thatcher pulled out a thermos of tea. I took a cup and sighed as I sipped it. This greenhouse was our haven.

"No one's going to think you're easy, Nora." He said it in such a reassuring manner I almost believed it. It was nice that he knew what was troubling me, too.

"How do you know?" He sipped his tea.

"Because you have enough friends that will stand up for you. Not a whole lot of people care that you kissed him because you don't go around kissing lots of blokes."

"I hope you're right, Thatch."

"I always am." He opened his book and started reading.

* * *

Ron and Hermione were staying with Harry for the Christmas holidays and for that I was thankful. The twins said their mum wanted me to come and spend Christmas with them, but I declined. Hagrid needed someone to celebrate with, and by celebrate I mean someone to make sure he didn't bargain for any dangerous creatures down at the pub like when he got Aragog, Fluffy, or Norbit.

I was waiting with the twins to go to Hogsmead and Harry was walking past, I could almost hear the sad Charlie Brown music playing since he was stuck at the castle, I sighed and pulled out the Marauder's map. The twins sighed sadly and nodded.

"Let's do it, then." We all walked up and Harry was surprised.

"Why aren't you at Hogsmead yet?"

"Came to give you a little festive cheer before we leave." I handed Harry the packet of parchment and pulled him into the nearest classroom.

"What's this rubbish?" The twins and I laughed.

"'What's this rubbish?' he says." George smirked, "That right there is the secret to our success!"

"It's a wrench, giving it to you, but Nora's convinced us that your needs are greater than ours."

"How'd you get this?" Harry asked, looking at the little moving feet and names.

"Nicked it from Flich's office, first year."

"They had gone and set off a dung bomb in the hallway-" I started.

"And he went and got mad for some reason." Fred continued feigning innocence.

"Drug us off to his office and we noticed this filing cabinet that said 'Confiscated and Highly Dangerous'." George's smile grew wide.

"Don't tell me you two-" Harry grinned.

"George dropped another dung bomb and Fred grabbed the map." I shrugged. "I reckon Filch knew roughly what it was but could never work it properly."

"That has taught us more than all the teachers in the school." I pulled out my wand.

"You're just winding me up, aren't you?" We all shook our heads.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." I touched the parchment and the familiar names of the marauder's appeared. I know knew all of the names after talking with Sirius about them.

"Messers Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs are proud to present the Marauder's map." Harry murmured.

Fred and George sighed. "We owe them _so_ much." We showed Harry the secret passages that led right to Hogsmead.

"Don't bother with the one behind the mirror on the fourth floor, it caved in last winter."

"But when you're done, don't forget to wipe it." George warned.

"Or anyone can read it," Fred cautioned.

"Just tap it with your wand and say, 'Mischief Managed'." I did as I said and the map went blank.

* * *

We headed down to Hogsmead bundled up in ninety percent of Weasley made clothing. The twins were in high spirits considering they had just given up their favorite toy. Seamus waved to me from where he and Dean were hanging out in front of the post office. I didn't really want to stop because as soon as I slowed down, a group of Slytherin girls stopped and snickered at me, talking to each other behind their hands. I pulled my hat down lower and trudged on.

The twins and I went into Zonko's but didn't buy much other than the basic wet-start fireworks and dung bombs. I told them I would catch up with them when we got back up to school, I was going to check on Harry.

I couldn't find him in Honeyduke's. I checked the post office, still no sign. I walked into The Three Broomsticks and saw Ron and Hermione half hidden behind a Christmas tree. They made eye contact with me and tried to tell me something. I looked around the pub which was full of mostly students and then I saw Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, Hagrid, Madame Rosmerta, and the Minister of Magic himself, Mr. Cornelius Fudge.

I knew something was up and so I walked slowly over to where my friends were sitting and listened to the conversation next to Harry under the table.

"…I COMFORTED THE MURDERIN' TRAITOR!" Hagrid boomed. "And he abandoned his daughter at some muggle orphanage that didn't tell her nothin' about who she was or where she come from!" I cringed and knew he was talking about me.

"What?" The minister said, shocked.

"I should not have said that." Hagrid said quietly.

"Sirius Black has a daughter?" I needed McGonagall to smooth things over really quickly.

"Minister, I believe our first concern should be keeping Harry Potter safe, I do not think Sirius Black will be looking for the daughter he gave up twelve years ago."

I crawled out from under the table and Hagrid saw me.

"Sirius Black is a dangerous criminal who needs to be stopped. We should take his daughter in for questioning right away. She may know something we do not." Hagrid shook his head violently as I approached the table. Harry grabbed my ankle and I looked down.

"Let me go, Harry James Potter." He did because when I used his full name in that tone, it was better to let me do my own thing. I walked up to the table with a thinly veiled look of contempt on my face.

"Good evening, Minister, I believe you're looking for me?" His eyes grew wide with fright and he couldn't spit out his words.

"How—How did you hear our conversation." I laughed humorlessly.

"You think that just because you're sitting in the middle of a pub that it mutes your conversation?" He turned beet red.

"Well I say!"

"I'm not going to tell you about Sirius Black because you don't really care what I know or what I have to say because you just want to make sure your little slip up gets taken care of. Can't have criminals breaking out of Azkaban now can we? What would the Prophet say about the Ministry then?" I gave him a mocking pout. He appalled that I was saying this as were the teachers. I turned on my heel and marched out. I ran into Seamus on his way into the pub and I grabbed his hand, pulling him with me.

"Want to take a walk with me? I think I just screwed up big and should get out of the general area."

"Yeah, of course. What did you do?"

I pulled him into the woods and then I slowed down. We walked beside a frozen stream. I walked on the ice, enjoying the sound of it cracking and hopping to safety when it was too thin to support me. Seamus held my hand in case I lost my balance.

"I may have actually just told off the Minister of Magic for wanting to take me in for questioning about Sirius Black."

"Bloody hell, Nora. Why'd you do that for?" His cheeks were turning bright red from the cold and I knew mine were too.

"Because I wasn't going to give up information about my dad."

He let out low whistle. "So Sirius Black is your dad, then?" I nodded.

"Yeah."

"Wow." I kept walking with him until I saw the back fence of the Shrieking Shack.

Seamus leaned on the planks and I leaned next to him. Our breath fogged in front of us.

"Did you really snog Wood?"

"He kissed me. It's been a while ago, though. Didn't mean anything." I tried to play it off as I rubbed my hands together to warm them up in my purple mittens.

Seamus took my hands between his own and blew hot air on them, warming them much more efficiently. He didn't let go and my heart hammered. It wasn't even that I wanted a boyfriend. I didn't need a bloke slowing me down when I went out exploring or on a mission for Dumbledore. He leaned closer to me and sighed. His eyes were closed and I didn't know what to do. I gave him a quick peck on the lips that turned into a longer kiss. When we pulled away, we were both red from embarrassment.

"Did you feel anything?" I asked him, frowning. It was an okay kiss, a little on the cold side, but not an altogether bad kiss. I just didn't feel nearly the rush when he kissed me that I had when he had been holding my hands, expectantly.

He shook his head. "Not really, I thought it would feel different." I have him a 'sorry' face and he shrugged. "I guess it'll just be better if we stay just friends." I nodded.

"You have no idea how happy that makes me." I hugged him and his arms were warm around me. "I have to get back up to the castle, I just remembered I have to tell Professor Lupin something." I walked with him up to The Three Broomsticks.

"Bye, Nora." I pulled Seamus's hat down over his eyes and laughed lightly.

"Bye Seamus." I hugged him and whispered. "I hear that Angelina's little sister fancies you, maybe you should offer to buy her a butterbeer." I pointed out the second year who quickly looked away from us.

* * *

I ran up to Lupin's office and stopped short. I heard voices inside.

"I know you helped him into the castle, now tell me where is he?" Snape was furious.

"I didn't help Sirius Black, the man who murdered my best friends, into Hogwarts, Severus." I pressed my ear against the door of his office.

"I told Dumbledore you were a risk, Black on the loose and you being so close to his daughter would not mix well." I heard heels clack on flagstones and I hurried for somewhere to hide. The only spot was behind a statue of a pig that would probably not even hide me. I crouched low and held my breath when the door opened. Snape walked away down the opposite way from where I was hiding. I stood up and ran in the office.

"Professor." I said. He looked up lazily from his desk. He looked so tired and sad.

"Shouldn't you be at Hogsmead with the rest of the third years, Nora?" He flipped through a packet of parchment and I sat down.

"Why are you so sad? Werewolf stigma, okay, but the rest of it, is it all because of Harry's parents and my mother? My father isn't a bad man." Lupin's eyes widened.

"How can you say that!?" He slammed his hands on his desk, knocking off stacks of papers. "He betrayed your best friend's parents. James and Lily made them their secret keeper!" I stood up. Sirius had told me to keep it in the strictest confidence that I knew what had actually happened.

"No he didn't! He thought that they should switch, secretly. So Tom Riddle would go after my father and never suspect any different. He was willing to die to protect his friends." My voice was steadier than I thought it would be. "He wasn't ever the secret keeper. Peter Pettigrew was." Remus was taken aback.

"But… that's not possible, even Dumbledore didn't know."

"That's the point, no one knew except Sirius, the Potters, and Pettigrew."

"You have been talking to Sirius Black and you haven't come forward with the information?" I sighed.

"I told off the Minister of Magic regarding my dad and he didn't take it very well…" I was expecting a stern talking to but what I got was a loud laugh.

I looked up at the professor and he was clutching his sides with laughter. He sat down and kept laughing. I felt my lips tug up at the corners and chuckled.

"It was really marvelously stupid of me, wasn't it? Oh bloody hell, they're going to be on the lookout for me, aren't they?" Lupin slowed his laughter and sighed, looking up at me.

"Renora, you are both incredibly brave and unbelievably foolish, just like your father." I smiled knowing that I was like my father.


	11. Prisoner of Azkaban part 5

In a fit of end of the term spirits, the twins and I set off a long string of dung bombs in the corridor and then I walked them to the Hogwarts express for their trip home.

"You know, Mum's been begging us to get you to come home with us," George hugged me.

"Says it's not good for you to stay cooped up at Hogwarts all the time." Fred hugged me. I enjoyed the smell of his jacket and the warmth of his arms around me.

"You know I have to stay with Harry."

"Yeah, we know, but maybe you should do something for yourself for a change." I waved them goodbye and Neville bumped into me.

"S-sorry Nora, I was just late for the train." I hugged him.

"Have a happy holiday, Neville." I kissed him in a friendly way on the cheek and he turned red. He grinned awkwardly and ran off to the train.

Andi squawked and landed on my shoulder, she was wearing a scarf and a knit hat. It would have been funnier if it was a prank but she genuinely liked wearing the little clothes Mrs. Weasley made for her.

* * *

I was cocooned in my blankets. Andi was curled up against my stomach and then Hermione was shaking me awake.

"Nora! It's Christmas!" I sighed and pulled my blankets over my face.

"Go open your presents with Ron and Harry. Let me sleep." I had stayed out too late with Sirius last night spending Christmas Eve with him in the Shrieking Shack and drinking butterbeer.

"No, come on, we agreed that we'd do it together in the common room." I saw at the foot of my bed was a pile of presents. I tossed them into the center of my quilt and hauled them out the door. Hermione had left before me and Andi swooped down the steps. Ron had his mouth stuffed full of candy and Harry was holding the long box that had the broom Sirius had bought for him.

Harry was so excited when he opened the box. It was worth not telling him who his godfather was… almost.

Christmas dinner was small, and the fact that Professor Trelawney had predicted that either Ron or Harry would die first out of the group at the table. Hermione didn't do anyone any favors when, against my warning not to, she told McGonagall about the Firebolt Harry got for Christmas with no tag. I told Sirius he should let me sign it or put some cryptic message on it, he was such a drama queen. I thought he'd like that cryptic thing, but he went for the mystery gift. Bad idea. The lovely broom was now being combed over for hexes and jinxes and all the other non-existent bad things Sirius didn't do to the broom. He would have considered it a grave offense to do anything to that broom.

Thatch and I went for a chilly walk to work off some of the food we had gorged ourselves with. "So Fred told you that he's mad for you, yet?" I coughed on my warm hot chocolate and stopped walking.

"You're bloody crazy, mate."

"No, you're blind," Thatch looked at me like I was an idiot. "Haven't you seen the way he acts around you? George has to practically drag him away to give you and another boy some time alone."

"He's just being protective." I rolled my eyes.

"Keep telling yourself that and when you believe it, tell me again." I shoved my hands in my pockets and my friend wrapped his arm around my shoulders. "He's a very good guy. You'd be very lucky to get a man like him." I blushed and he squeezed me. "Oh Nora, this year you've gone above and beyond in the love area, dear." I pressed my face against his robe and groaned.

"But I don't really want a boy right now."

"Well you've got your pick of them when you come to your senses."

It was starting to snow hard and we slipped into the hall. An owl slammed into my chest and I grabbed Errol. He was breathing heavily and holding a thick letter. I sat him on a warm hearth and tore open the envelope. I pulled out a folded sheet of paper and a necklace that had a medallion of the laughing wizard that the boys were using for Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. Thatch smirked and pointed at the letter.

_Dear Nora, _

_I know I've been a sod lately but I wanted to tell you that I_\- the writing was disappearing and I hadn't read it fast enough to even see who it was from, I could only assume Fred.

"Bloody hell." Thatch grumbled and took the blank sheet and pointed his wand at it, trying to get the writing to show up.

"It's no use, I made that invisible ink, and it's not going to come back."

I took the paper back and folded it to shove in my backpack. Errol was snoring and I'd let him sleep.

Thatch walked me back to my common room bemoaning the horrible crime that was Fred writing me a letter in disappearing ink. I didn't tell him again that it was just _invisible_ ink. He wished me a Happy Christmas again and went back to the Slytherin common room.

I sat on my bed and held the empty paper, twirling the magic glasses in my fingers that were needed to read the letter. I hadn't read it… yet. I didn't know if I would.

Why did boys have to go a ruin everything by writing sensitive letters in invisible ink?

* * *

The twins came back the day before classes resumed and were their normal mischievous selves. Harry was still sullen about his broom and when I told Oliver, you would have thought it was his broom that had been taken.

One thing that brightened up my day was the lessons Harry had with Professor Lupin about dementors. I helped him catch the boggarts but never practiced the Patronus he was showing Harry. I sat and watched from somewhere in his office so Harry couldn't see me and get nervous.

I listened while Lupin talked to Harry about how horrible the dementors' kiss would be and how existence would be bleak for anyone whom it happened to. I shuddered to think of that happening to my dad.

Sirius and I had been spending as much time as we could together and he was excited to sneak back onto school grounds to watch Harry practice and play Quidditch again. He was appalled that I did not know how to fly a broom and had offered to buy me one. I declined.

Fred acted the way he always had, maybe even a little less protective than usual so I just shrugged and figured he decided that he didn't like me the way Thatch thought and went along pranking with him.

Everything was good until Ron's rat disappeared. He kept being really mean to Hermione and finally the day of the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw I yelled at him in front of everyone to stop being such a foul git over a rat that wasn't even a good pet. Scabbers had been sickly and probably ran off to die. The twins were in agreement with me which made Ron even madder.

The morning of the Quidditch match, everyone walked with Harry down to breakfast and their eyes were on the Firebolt. Cedric Diggory came up and winked at me. The twins bristled behind me and I smiled. He congratulated Harry of having such a good replacement for his Nimbus and he wished the team good luck.

"What was that about?" Hermione giggled as she sat beside me.

"I help him with his potions homework sometimes. He's a real charmer."

"Ooooooh." Hermione teased and I smiled.

"Not like that, Hermione, he's just a friend." Fred tossed Ced a dark look and George jibbed him in the ribs, whispering something. I went back to eating my oats and eggs.

I was watching Harry zip around on his Firebolt during the match but three shifting black figures caught my attention down by the entrance to the pitch. I was almost there when I heard a blood curdling scream. I burst out to get a face full of black fabric which I batted away. I grabbed Goyle and punched him in the nose. He touched it and howled when he felt the blood gushing from his face. I kicked his arse out of the way and hooked Crabbe with a quick punch to the jaw. Malfoy was quivering, still draped in his black fabric to make him look like a dementor. Marcus Flint was running away. I snarled at him and he flinched. My inner wolf hound was becoming more of my personality. That scared me. I straightened my back and took a step backwards. I had just bloodied a boy's face and was about to tear that little ferret Malfoy to shreds. That wasn't me, was it? That smug look on Draco's face rekindled my fury and I lunged at him.

"NORA!" Remus yelled at me. I had Malfoy by the collar and was tearing him a new one about dressing up like a dementor when he didn't realize what they did to people.

Crabbe and Goyle were too busy nursing their injuries to help their 'superior' out. All the Quidditch players landed and some were cheering.

The teachers all filed out onto the grass. Lupin grabbed me by my jacket and I shoved Malfoy so he almost fell. Dumbledore looked very angry. I stopped fighting and Lupin kept a tight hold on my clothes. The twins looked at me, giving me a thumbs up sign and Madame Pomfrey ushered the two bumbling buffoons off the field. Malfoy pleaded that he also was injured and needed to go to the infirmary but Pomfrey shrugged and said he hadn't been hurt.

"Professor Lupin, please see that Miss Black is taken to my office. I will be along shortly after I have a discussion with Mr. Malfoy here. We do not need any more blood spilt today." Dumbledore said with a half-joking tone. Lupin briskly escorted me out of the pitch and up to the castle.

"Do you understand how stupid what you just did was?" He said in the low calm tone parents get when they have passed the point of yelling.

"I believe what I did was right." Remus had stopped me right inside the main doors to yell at me like he was my father.

"Nora! Do you think that beating people to a bloody pulp is the way to rectify the situation?" I adverted my eyes.

"All they understand is violence, and even then, they'll go back to being mindless troll guards in a few days. No offense." I said to the ogre stationed at the door to keep Sirius Black away. He made a confused noise and I shook my head. "Never mind." Lupin and I continued walking.

"You are an incredibly intelligent young lady and yet you make brash, hot-headed decisions that someday could get you killed."

"I did what my father and James Potter would have done." I said ignorantly. Lupin's face turned red.

"Don't you understand? They were my best friends in the world and they were bullies. Sirius and James made fun of everyone. Severus Snape was embarrassed in front of the whole school and that was what set him on the dark path he went down. You used to say that bullies were horrible people for doing what they do and yet now you fight violence with violence instead of outsmarting them to make the world better."

"Remus." I said quietly, my face burned with embarrassment.

"I'm ashamed of you, Renora." I couldn't say anything and he marched me up to Dumbledore's office. "Don't beat anyone up while you wait." He walked back out the door and I sat down.

"I did what should have been done, right?" I looked up at the paintings of past headmasters who all looked sternly at me and shook their heads.

"Troublemaker, that one." One of them mumbled.

"Daughter of the murderer Sirius Black, knew she'd be trouble." Another agreed. I stood up and walked to where I couldn't hear them. I wiped the tears of anger and embarrassment off my cheeks.

"Nora, please, sit down." Dumbledore was standing behind his desk.

I did and he frowned at me.

"It has occurred to me that maybe I am to blame for your outbursts of anger." I raised my eyebrows.

"Why's that, headmaster?" He sighed and folded his hands.

"Because I have made you Harry's personal bodyguard and that has made you a very violent person."

"Professor I-"

"Please, let me finish speaking." I closed my mouth and looked down. "It must not be easy defending everyone who never had anyone stand up for them." I twisted the hem of the Quidditch jersey Wood had given me. "I know about all the people you defend. Maybe you should teach them how to defend themselves so you do not always have to be the brunt of punishment." He walked around his desk and put a hand on my shoulder. "I know you think that this is the way your father would have handled situations, but really he would not have stood up for a Slytherin if his life depended on it and, in that respect, you act like your father did but defend people like your mother did." I sighed. "I'm going to have to take ten points from Gryffindor, and give you a weeks' worth of detentions with Professor Snape." I nodded. "You may go, but please, I want you to apologize to Crabbe and Goyle, even Malfoy. You gave him a right good scare. Didn't you break his nose last year?" I grinned, looking at my lap.

"I'll go apologize, am I dismissed, professor?" He nodded slowly and I walked out. Madame Pomfrey watched me warily as I said through gritted teeth that I was sorry for pounding them bloody. Crabbe and Goyle scoffed and acted like they didn't care. I walked out without letting it bother me right now.

The twins chewed me out about fighting but then they clapped me on the back and wanted me to know that they would have done the same thing. A few people shied away from me. I understood why. I had stopped trying to be everyone's friend and started being an attack dog.

* * *

In the middle of the night I heard someone scream bloody murder and I rolled out of bed. Hermione was practically sprinting out of the room after I heard her mumble something about Ron. I grabbed a sweater to pull on over my pajamas and everyone ran into the common room where Ron was yelling about Sirius Black. They watched me as I walked to him. They even did that really horrible thing where they parted and let me through. I quietly asked Ron what happened and he looked scared to death to tell me.

"Sirius Black just threatened me with a knife." I looked around the room and Percy said he'd go get the headmaster. He looked at me with a mix of disgust and fear. I backed away from the crowd. Harry met my eyes and looked at me like I had just threatened his life. Ron wouldn't even look at me.

"I… I-"

"Did you let him in here?!" Someone yelled. I shook my head.

"No! Of course I didn't! Why would you think that?"

"Because you're his ruddy daughter now ain't you? Me mum knew anyone with the last name Black would be bad news, I guess she's right." I bumped into Neville who was as pale as a sheet.

"I would never help someone hurt my friends, Ron, you know that right?"

He didn't answer and the twins stayed back away from me.

"Traitor." Someone whispered and the room was silent. I ran out and looked at Sir Cadagon.

"Did you let Sirius Black into the common room?" The ditzy knight nodded vehemently.

"I did, fair lady, for he had the passwords, a whole list of them for the entire week." I remembered that I wrote down the passwords for Neville and he must have dropped them. I turned to go confront Sirius when the teachers and Dumbledore came running up. A few of them gave me dirty looks when I stepped away and the Gryffindors all spilled out so our tower could be searched.

I pressed myself up against the wall and when McGonagall became irate about there being a list of passwords that Sirius Black used. Neville came forward and I pushed my way through to say that I was the one who had made the list for him so I was just as guilty. We were both stripped of our rights to go on the Hogsmead trips for the rest of the year and also Neville's grandmother would be receiving a letter about what happened. I squeezed his hand and promised I'd be there when the Howler came because the howlers always came. The castle was searched and I sat in my room while everyone except Hermione whispered about me. A few girls had openly called me a criminal. I walked out. I wouldn't be able to hold my tongue for much longer.

"Nora." Someone said softly from one of the over-stuffed chairs. I looked and Neville was sitting there. His eyes were red and puffy.

"Did they kick you out of your dormitory?" He nodded.

"I'm worthless, aren't I? I can't do anything right." I pulled him out of his chair and hugged him.

"No you're not. I'll sort this out. People will forgive and forget and we have to prove ourselves all over again."

"Are you sure?"

"Neville, people think I let my father come into the house and try and kill my best friends, so I can't afford to think anything else."

"They're just scared, they really don't think you'd do that. They just want someone to blame when things go sour." I squeezed him once more before I stepped away.

"Come on, we're going somewhere better than this stuffy old common room." We walked out and I took him up to my secret hideaway I split up my pillows and blankets for each of us and enchanted the ceiling to look like the universe with swirling galaxies and innumerable stars.

"Thank you, Nora, for being such a good friend. I don't know what I would do without you."

"You're welcome, sleep well."


	12. Prisoner of Azkaban part 6

The next day, things were not much better. Neville and I sat together at the end of the Gryffindor table alone because no one would come near us. Harry wasn't talking to me and it seemed that the Weasley's were banding together acting like I was an attempted murderer. Nothing was any better until Thatcher told me we'd skip class and go drink tea by the Black Lake. I couldn't argue with that.

Gisborne joined us and I knew that he and Thatcher were very close. I smiled to myself and cupped my warm mug of tea as the still chilly spring air blew off the lake. With Gisborne on one side and Thatcher on the other, I was warm.

I explained what had happened to Gisborne. He huffed angrily.

"They are foolish thinking that you would betray them. Your father sounds like a good man who was framed." I nodded.

"He is." I filled my mug with some more mint tea and sighed.

"I don't know how I will ever earn anyone's trust back if they all think I tried to get Harry or Ron murdered by my father." I sipped my tea and shivered. "Even the twins aren't talking to me. You should have seen the look Fred gave me yesterday. Like I had threatened him with a knife."

"They will find out the truth and it will be okay."

"This year has had so many twists and turns and I'm tired of it."

* * *

I was sitting with Neville in a group of people at the table. Everyone was ignoring us but at least they didn't move when we sat down like we had the plague. Everyone was back to talking to Neville but very few people didn't look at me suspiciously. A scarlet envelope dropped in front of him and everyone stopped.

"Neville, run." Harry said but Neville was already off. I was on his heels and the Slytherin table burst out in laughter. I threw a handful of fireworks at them and they zoomed around scaring the whole table but not touching them.

Neville had made it outside the school but only just before his Gran's voice erupted with a mighty fury.

I held his hand as his grandmother called him a disgrace and berated him with the punishments he would get when he got home after the term. Finally the letter ripped itself up and I hugged him.

"You are kind, and smart, and important. You are not a disgrace. You just aren't as good at magic, but you're a right ringer in herbology. I bet you could even be a professor here someday. People are good at different things, Nev, don't let anyone tell you that you aren't useful." He nodded and I touched his cheek. "You good? I'm starving still."

* * *

I was sitting in Hagrid's hut with Harry and Ron. Ron acted cold towards me and Harry acted like he could barely stand me.

Hagrid looked at the icy atmosphere between the three of us.

"First you hurt Hermione's feelings when all she's done is try and help you two. Now you're acting like Nora's your enemy, what's going on?" I looked at my quilt and picked a loose thread.

"Sirius Black was in the Gryffindor house and Nora let him in." Ron said quietly.

I growled. "I did not. Why would I?"

"Because he's your dad and you'd do anything to help him." I looked up and glared at him.

"If I wanted you dead, Weasley, I wouldn't need my dad to do it." I stood up. "I did not let him in and Neville did not lose his passwords, they were stolen. Stop acting like I'm a bloody criminal. Tell your stupid brothers the same because I'm tired of them acting like I would hurt you." Hagrid frowned at me and I grabbed the door handle.

"Sirius would never hurt you, Harry. He's your godfather for a reason."

I shut the door and Andi landed on my shoulder. I heard a paw pounding the ground. I looked and Sirius's eyes shown in the darkness.

"What do you want? Haven't you messed enough up already? I've lost most of my friends because you had to be dramatic and threaten Ron with a knife, didn't you?" He whined. I stepped closer to him. "I'm so angry at you for taking Neville's passwords, because of you he can't go on the Hogsmead trips anymore. His gran is furious and he's a wreck." He bowed down as I moved closer. "I got in a fight the other day and Remus was the one to tell me I was out of order. I don't hate you, Sirius, but you're a bloody drama queen. Stay out of Hogwarts. If you need something, tell me, I'll get it." He looked up at me with those sad eyes and I sighed. He trotted away a few steps and looked back at me. I shook my head. He whined again and I growled. I transformed into my animagus and trotted after him. When we were far enough into woods my father and I transformed back into humans. I crossed my arms and he tried to smooth down his mad hair but was unsuccessful.

"I'm sorry, Nora, I never meant to muck things up as badly as I did, please, forgive me." He gave me a very sad look.

"You _really_ royally screwed up. What were you even looking for?"

"Ron's rat, he's Peter Pettigrew." My jaw fell open and I shut it quickly.

"What?"

"He was always a coward, even when we were in school and he turned himself into a rat and hid away for thirteen years."

"I'm going to find him and after he clears your name, I'm going turn him over to the dementors."

"I thought for sure you'd say kill him."

"I'm not a killer." He hugged me.

"That's my girl."

* * *

I stepped out of one of the secret passages that let out close to the common room and I heard voices. I closed the portrait so I could still hear but not be seen.

"She probably ran away." George said angrily.

"I feel like a real git for being angry at her when we all knew she wouldn't do it." Fred was frustrated.

"I want to tell her sorry and now we can't find her. Everyone's been so horrible to her that she probably ran off to live with that centaur in the woods."

"Nora would never run away from Harry and Neville like that. She's too good to do that." Fred sat down on a bench and leaned back against the wall. I stepped out and readjusted my rucksack.

"NORA!" both of the twins yelled as they hugged me. I could have cried from relief because they weren't mad anymore.

"Bloody hell you two. Acting like a couple of witch hunters the past few days, you both know I would never hurt Ron." They squeezed me tighter.

"Bang out of order we were." George said.

"Never doubt you again," Fred added.

* * *

I was sitting in Remus's office because I could no longer go to Hogsmead with the rest of the students. At least not on the scheduled trips.

"I see you've been behaving yourself." I nodded.

"Most people finally believe that I wouldn't let an alleged murderer into my school house, so it's getting better." I sipped my tea and he sipped his wolfbane's potion. I had tried to patch things up with Severus and he consented for me to learn how to make the potion from him.

"I am still very confused about how Peter Pettigrew was the traitor. He was our friend in school, sure, but he would never be on Voldemort's radar of people to suspect." He looked pensive.

"Maybe that's exactly why, though, he was quiet and useless so no one would suspect him and from what I've learned, Tom Riddle was very smart and would have seen right through it."

"You think you know everything." He said with a crooked grin. "Should Hermione feel threatened?"

"I can't even be close to her level. It's burning her out taking all the classes she is." He nodded and flipped through a book.

"_Lupin, I want a word!" _Severus's face appeared in the fire and Lupin sighed. He stood up and offered me his hand. I took it and he pulled me into the fire. We spun and stepped out of the fire, brushing ash off of our robes.

"Nora?"

"Hello Harry." I moved around the desk and sat next to my friend. I saw the Marauder's Map in Snape's hands. I took a deep breath.

"I have found something wrought with dark magic and I thought it was your area of expertise." Snape said slickly.

"I hardly think a trick piece of parchment is 'wrought with dark magic'." Remus picked up the parchment and I smiled coyly. Harry looked at me like I was mad. I shook my head. "It's probably just a Zonko." Lupin laughed a little.

"I thought maybe he got it straight from the _manufactures_." Snape said pointedly. I leaned back in my chair.

"I don't believe he did." Lupin said with a small smile. Ron burst in saying that he had bought all of the stuff at Zonko's for Harry and I grinned. Snape couldn't hold him now.

"You two may leave. Mr. Potter," he sneered.

"Yes, professor?"

"If any part of you appears in Hogsmead without permission again, I will be sure to inform the headmaster." Harry nodded and Lupin walked us all out. He pulled Harry away to yell at him about having the map. I looped my arm around Ron's and pulled him away.

"Excited about the Quidditch final? I think we're a shoe-in with Harry's Firebolt and the team is the best it's been in years."

"Charlie was a good seeker but Harry's fantastic. We've got this in the bag. I'm sure Wood will be overcome with tears when he holds the cup." I nodded. Wood and I were on friendly terms and all he had been talking about was the Quidditch final and it was getting really annoying.

* * *

The morning of the Quidditch final I had to practically force some toast and pumpkin juice into Wood. He had been telling the rest of his team to eat up but touching nothing himself. Everyone was back to normal with me for the most part. By that I mean that they stopped calling me a traitor. Hagrid told me that I had been asked to sit up with the teachers for the match.

Cedric walked over. I winked at him and he did it back. "Good morning, Nora."

"'Morning, Ced." The twins were right behind me.

"Just came over to wish the team good luck today. And I'm glad to see that you got a new broom, Harry."

"Thanks." Harry smiled. Wood shook Cedric's hand like a proud father.

Ced walked away and the twins looped their arms through mine.

"What was that about, Nora Black?" I smirked.

"I help him with his potions homework, haven't I told you that?"

"No… This won't turn into another situation like the one you had with Wood, will it?" Fred asked. I punched him in the arm.

"Shove off, I need to go talk to Neville." George let go of me but Fred hesitated before dropping his hand from my arm. I tensed my jaw but it was hidden by my hair and walked away.

* * *

I was sitting next to Lee Jordan at the Quidditch match. I wasn't smiling. Buckbeak had been sentenced to death. The twins had tried to cheer me up but I only succeeded in fooling them into thinking I was okay. They accepted my fake smile with a cautious look but they had Quidditch to worry about.

I was not put in a better mood by the tactics of the scummy Slytherin team. I was yelling along with Jordan, and soon, Professor McGonagall.

After the slimiest playing on the Slytherin team's behalf, Gryffindor still won. I flooded the field with everyone else in scarlet and gold. I was thrust into the middle of the cheering crowd. Ron appeared beside me and we smiled at each other. He leaned in and kissed me full on the mouth but as soon as we realized what happened we moved away from each other. My face was hot and his ears were beet red.

We were never going to talk about that. The twins fought their way over to me. I was crushed in their excited hug and as soon as they let me go Wood came over, crying with joy, and squeezed me.


	13. Prisoner of Azkaban part 7

While everyone was studying for final exams, I was spending time with Buckbeak. Trying to get some proof for his appeal even though I knew it was infantile. Those damn judges has sentenced Buckbeak to death because of Malfoy's parents.

I was up in the common room now, though, studying for my exams snuggly tucked between Fred and George who were studying for their OWLS. I was nodding off because I had been staying up late looking up information for the appeal and getting up early to go out for a flight with Buckbeak. Fred readjusted his arm so I was lying against his side. We were both reading over our notes and everyone was busy doing their own work. I didn't even realize what I had done until George poked my leg and tilted his head in the direction of Harry. I looked over to see Ron turning red and staring at his brother and me. He ducked back down to look at his book. I leaned up and rested my head on George's shoulder. Andi climbed up and curled up on my lap, enveloped in my ruffly dress. I closed my eyes for only a moment and woke up to the sun shining on my face from one of the high windows. The twins were still snoring beside me on the couch.

Today was the day of my last exam and Buckbeak's execution. After I got ready, I ran down to Hagrid's hut to say goodbye with tears in my eyes. A little while later, Harry, Hermione, and Ron came down, Hermione looked rather smug and Harry and Ron looked impressed. Harry mimed punching someone in the face and mouthed the word 'Malfoy'. I smiled and nodded. Hagrid welcomed the company while I sat on the bed, until he realized that they shouldn't see Buckbeak get executed. I had to fight Hagrid tooth a nail to be there.

Hermione offered to make a pot of tea and I didn't pay any attention until she broke the milk crock.

"What is it?" Andi's head snapped up from my lap.

"Scabbers!" Ron scooped up the rat and I walked over to him.

"Ron, please give me the rat." He gave me a confused look.

"No…?"

"I need him, please."

"I'm not giving you my rat, Nora." I looked at him and tried to grab the scrawny rat.

"I just need him. He's a murderer." Everyone was watching me.

"You're off your rocker, Nora." I lunged and Ron pulled the rat out of my reach before he moved to the door.

"Hagrid, I think Nora's gone mad." Ron reached for the door handle. I heard people talking. I glanced out the window and then something flew through a window pane from the back and I rushed the others out. I tried to grab the rat but Ron was already sneaking around the hut. I growled and followed. I needed that rat.

We were up on the hill when Ron was struggling to keep Scabbers, I mean Peter Pettigrew, in his pocket. Finally I watched the rat bite him. I transformed into a dog and ran after the sneaky little rat. Ron ran after me. He jumped in front of me and I skidded to a stop. I growled. I wouldn't bite him. Sirius jumped out of the Whomping Willow. I tried to stop him but he chomped down on Ron's leg and I winced at the crunching noise. I looked back at Harry and Hermione who were looking at me like I was the one biting Ron's leg. I picked up Ron by his shirt collar and helped Sirius take him down the tunnel. I hit the knot to get the limbs swinging again. I wanted to tell them to stay back, that I'd take care of Ron, but I couldn't. We rushed through the tunnel to the Shrieking Shack. Ron was moaning in pain. I would bind his leg when we got to the shack. It was really hard to get him to the room without hurting him. Sirius kept giving me a look like he was so sorry that he broke Ron's leg. We got to the room and I transformed back and helped him on the bed. He pulled away from me and looked at me like I was going to kill him. I shied back and fought the stinging tears.

Crookshanks curled on the bed and purred. I looked out the window. My father transformed back, he was dressed in his prison clothes since he hadn't enchanted anything else. He looked ill, still, though not as bad as when I first found him back on Halloween. I heard Harry and Hermione creeping up the steps. I looked at Sirius and he frowned. I wasn't going to take my wand out because these were my friends. The two teens walked through the door.

"Where's the dog, Ron?"

"Not a dog! It's a trap, he's an Animagus!" Sirius snapped the door closed with his stupid dramatic flair. I knew Harry would try to fight him. I ran my hands through my hair to get it out of my face. Sirius had taken Ron's wand and disarmed Harry.

"I thought you'd come to help your friend. James would have done the same for me. Glad you didn't run for a teacher, it'll make it easier…"

"Just cut to the chase, Sirius, you're scaring them. You're getting all dark and wicked and murdery. Stop." I said. Harry's eyes met mine and I knew he hated me in that moment, it was pure hatred and betrayal. I knew he'd kill Sirius if he had his wand. I moved closer to the group.

"If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us, too." Ron said bravely, standing, I knew it was hurting him something fierce with his leg.

"No one is killing anyone, okay?" I stepped in front of my father.

"Lie down," Sirius said sadly to Ron, "Or you'll damage that leg even more."

"Didn't you hear me? You'll have to kill all three of us to get to Harry."

"Only one will die to tonight." I rolled my eyes and tried to ascertain the location of Pettigrew on Ron's person. My guess was his shirt pocket. If I could just get close enough to grab the little heathen's tail…

"Why? Didn't bother you when you slaughtered all those muggles twelve years ago in broad daylight."

"Harry…" I said softly.

"HE KILLED MY MUM AND DAD NORA! AND YOU'RE HELPING HIM?!"

"Please, let me explain. None of this is Nora's fault." I looked at Sirius and he pulled me away.

I stood back and watched Harry attack my dad. I tried to get in the middle but both Sirius and Harry yelled at me to get away. I stumbled back.

Harry got the upper hand and held his wand pointed at Sirius. Crookshanks had gotten on Sirius's chest and he was trying to get the cat out of harm's way.

I picked up the cat and tossed him on the bed with Ron. There was a tense second and then several more passed. There was muffled footsteps on the stairs and Hermione yelled that they were in trouble, and that Sirius Black was up here. I tensed and watched the door. My hand was hovering by my wand. Remus burst through the door and I sighed. He knew what was going on here.

"Where is he?" He asked me. The trio pointed to Sirius and I bounded over and ripped the rat out of Ron's pocket. He collapsed on the bed. I held the wicked little rat and it bit me and squirmed so I just held it around its scrawny neck.

"Do it, Remus." I said holding Pettigrew out by his neck. Remus sighed and nodded.

"We must know the truth." Harry looked confused and then Ron tried to protest. The spell swirled from Lupin's wand and hit Peter. I dropped him and he grew into a pathetic looking man wearing scraggly old robes. He twitched like a rat and had dark beady eyes. He grabbed my leg and I looked down at him.

"Oh Nora, you wouldn't let them kill me, would you? I'm Ron's pet." I grabbed his wrist and twisted it with a sharp jerk.

"No, I would. But as it turns out, we need you to clear my father's name. Then the dementors can have you." He whimpered. I took out my wand to bind him up but the door burst open.

"AH-HA! I knew it! Black has been helping her father along with Lupin." I slapped my hand against my forehead. Snape had arrived just in time to be a problem. The all three of the kids petrified him and I groaned when he hit the floor. I went over and picked him up, sitting him in a chair. I brushed his hair out of his face and sighed.

"Why are you so kind to a man who acts like he can't stand you, Nora?" My father asked.

"Because he's a good man who didn't need to be petrified by three young wizards." I went back over to Pettigrew and hit him. My father looked pleased, everyone else looked frightened.

"Bloody hell, Nora!" Ron yelled when I bound Peter up in ropes and asked Remus and Sirius to bind themselves to him. They stepped up but Ron stood up shakily. "I'll do it." I nodded.

"Let me bind that for you," He looked weary. "We'll explain all of this back at the school. Short story. Sirius isn't the reason James and Lily were found, Peter is, he told Tom Riddle and then he went to kill Harry and his parents. Sirius went away. Peter turned into the worst pet in history. He lived with your family. Final answer, Pettigrew bad, Sirius innocent." Ron, Hermione, and Harry all looked at me slack jawed.

"I'll get… Severus" Sirius muttered. I could tell he was fighting the urge to say Snivelus or some other rude name he'd let slip before. I handed him my wand and he levitated the stunned professor. I stayed away from my friends as we made our way through the tunnel back to the school grounds. I went to hit the knot on the root but a branch wrapped itself around my waist and tossed me. It knocked the air out of me and I knew I had broken my wrist when I landed. I tried to get up but I needed more oxygen. It was dark but I saw Crookshanks dart and hit the knot for me. The others walked up and I saw the moon. _Remus. _

I stood up, biting my lip to fight the pain. It was bleeding. Harry and Sirius were talking. I could only assume that he was asking him to live with us after his name was cleared. I smiled and saw Hermione helping Ron with Peter Pettigrew.

"Remus." I pointed up at the moon peeking out behind the clouds. He was fear stricken and started changing. He popped out of the shackle and I ran up to him and tried to get him back to the tunnel but his body went rigid and we couldn't move.

"Harry, get the others out of here!" Sirius tried to calm his friend down. Neither of us were working. Snape woke and in the fray I saw Peter Pettigrew get his hand on a wand and tap it to his arm. He turned into a rat and I turned into a dog to chase after him. I heard a blood curdling scream from Hermione. There was a howl and I looked back. Remus was growling at the kids, Snape was protecting them but Sirius and I nudged the professor away in our dog forms. I could only hope that the others got Ron to the hospital wing. I ran away, leading Remus with Sirius's help. I heard something in the woods. I glanced and saw Buckbeak chasing after some bats. I was so surprised that I bumped into Remus who accidently slashed my side. I whined and tried to keep running. I found my way down to the edge of the lake and collapsed. I panted and turned back into a human and lay there. I touched my ribs and winced. My hand came back covered in blood. My wrist was still throbbing from landing on it and then running. I tried to conjure some bandages but realized my wand was somewhere else because Sirius had dropped it. I sighed and tried to stand up, but that was not going to happen. I groaned and tried to call out for Gisborne, he was never far away, but I felt the all too familiar pain start to course through my body. My back arched because now it was worse than it had ever been.

Sirius bounded to me, he was scratched up too and held me. I saw the swirling vortex of dementors above us. We both convulsed with pain.

"Dad…" I said softly. Harry came sprinting down the hill and tried to stop the dementors but he wasn't strong enough. I closed my eyes and felt like my soul was being ripped out of me, but then it relaxed and I blacked out.

I was in the hospital wing. I had my ribs and wrist wrapped up tightly and Ron was sleeping beside me. I shook the cold feelings from my head and stood up. Everything hurt.

"Where's Sirius?" I said quietly, standing up.

"Nora, you must get back in bed!" Snape said. He was being honored by Fudge and Dumbledore. I had to grab the bed frame to keep from falling. Snape and Dumbledore came to help me back into bed but I kept them away. Dumbledore leaned close and whispered, "Flitwick's office has a great view of the moon tonight." I looked at him and he winked. He patted a chocolate bar into my hand and I ate some. Fudge looked too smug for my liking.

"Hello, minister." I smiled sweetly and walked slowly to where he was. Using beds and tables to assist. I stood in front of the stump man and looked him up and down. I was taller than he was and that gave me a sense of smugness.

"Miss Black, Professor Snape has informed me that you were under the confundus charm and that was the reason behind your abnormal behavior these past few months. I will not charge you with assisting a criminal."

"Why, thank you. Bet you feel real proud about finally having the murderer Sirius Black back. You're going to kill him tonight I assume. The ministry can't afford another slip up." I snapped a piece of chocolate at the end. "Too bad you've got the wrong man."

"You would say that." He sniffed. "Bet you're rotten to the core, just like the lot of the Black family." I smiled at him again. "I should lock you up in Azkaban with Bellatrix…"

"Shut up." I said plainly. The air was tense. "If anyone is rotten here, Minister, it's you. You refuse to see what's plainly in front of your face. Peter Pettigrew is still alive. The only proof you had was that he lost a finger. Do you really believe my father to be such an inept wizard that he would leave a finger? Or kill all those Muggles? No. He was outstanding when it came to magic. Little Peter Pettigrew was a bumbling fool and would be exactly the kind of idiot to sell out to Tom Riddle, I guess you would want me to call him The Dark Lord or some other dumb moniker. Everyone else calls him Voldemort, he's just a man though. A manipulative, vile man who never knew love." I took a bite of chocolate, it was helping me feel better.

"Well I say! Albus, how can you stand to have such a horrendous cretin in your school?" I looked over. Snape was horrified. Dumbledore's eyes were shining.

"Actually, Nora is one of my favorite students." The minister was flabbergasted.

"When Tom Riddle rises, again, and he will, don't ignore it, fight it, or you'll lose the war." I walked slowly to the door. My hand was on the handle when I heard him say.

"Just remember, Black, you won't be in Hogwarts forever." I looked at him and laughed.

"You better get ready then."

* * *

I was slowly climbing to Flitwick's office using a spiral staircase. It was agonizing and painful, but I made it. I got in without using the door and my father was looking at the moon.

"I never thought that I'd see you again. These last few months, Nora, I've gotten to know you and I can honestly say they have been the happiest I've had in a very long time." He touched my face.

"Sirius…" big, fat tears slipped down my cheeks.

"You know, I thought for sure you'd come in here offering to sneak me out."

"I am."

"But I have to tell you that the foreseeable future, you are going to receive a lot of hatred and mistrust, helping me would only further that. I want you to leave."

"Something scratched on the window and we both jumped to see Harry and Hermione riding Buckbeak. We threw open the windows.

"What's going on!?" I yelled.

"We'll explain later, help Sirius get on." I did and watched as my friends and father soared up to a tower. I hurried as much as I could down to meet them.

I barely missed the Minister, Snape, and Dumbledore opening the door to the classroom.

* * *

I limped to the top of the tower and hugged Harry tightly. "Thank you. I don't know how you did it, but thank you."

"The time turner." I winced and Harry did, too. I hugged him too tight for both of us. My father hugged me and I smiled.

"We'll see each other soon." He said. I nodded.

"Then we'll be a real family." He got back on Buckbeak and took off. We all had to hustle to get back to the infirmary before Dumbledore locked the door, or so Hermione said. I was the leader even though I was the slowest but I knew the passages. We just barely got there in time. Peeves was thrilled about Sirius getting kissed by the Dementors, and was in a fit of high spirits. I liked him sometimes but when he acted like that, I wanted to exorcise him. We slipped into the dormitory and I collapsed on the nearest bed. My ribs hurt horribly. Werewolf wounds were harder to heal and would take more time. I passed out before I could even get scolded by Madame Pomfrey.

I ended up having to stay in the medical wing for a few more days. My scratches weren't healing well. I was miserable. Andi was binging on the chocolate people had sent me. Remus hadn't been down to see me. I knew he must have heard what had happened. I tried sneaking out but the twins were always telling me to stop moving and let the scratches heal. I wasn't in that much pain anymore. I would have five wicked scars on my side and stomach but that's nothing new; vampire, werewolf, it's all the same.

I waited until I was alone and snuck into the hallway. I ran through the secret passages. Not really ran, I _hurried_, I suppose. I walked out into the hall and right into Remus's office without knocking. He was sitting at his desk, waving his wand to pack up some of his things. The Grindylow tank was empty. I held my ribs as I sat down and put my feet up onto the desk.

"Moony, makes sense now." I said, picking up the marauder's map. "When do I get a nickname?"

"Nora, I…" He looked at me with his sad eyes.

"How about Barkers? Padfoot… I'm barking mad." He sighed. "I'm not mad- at you-I'm insane sometimes though." I pulled my hair away from my face and closed my eyes. "I knew what I was getting into when I went to get you away from the others. I'll recover. I just wanted to make sure that you weren't going to go all 'oh woe is me' and 'I shall never stay with humans again'." I looked at him. He was watching me, trying not to smile. "And my personal favorite-I'll have you know since you refused to come see me that I've been holding conversations with you in my head- is 'I'm a sad little werewolf, but I'm going to brood like a vampire'." I smirked at him and he did smile full out this time.

"I'm sorry I didn't come see you. I do feel very guilty about hurting you. In fact now everyone knows that I'm… you know, I have tendered my resignation. Parents aren't too keen about someone like me teaching their children."

"That's rubbish. I wish there wasn't so much stigma surrounding you." He walked around his desk and sat on the corner.

"I wish the world saw me the way you, your mother, and our friends saw me." I nodded and stood up. I hugged him. He wrapped his arms around me.

"For what's it's worth, I'll always be here to help you, Remus. Sirius' door will always be open." The office door opened again and this time Harry walked in.

"I- I heard you're resigning." I excused myself and took a little walk before I was summoned back to the infirmary. I decided I would soak up some of the sunshine on the lawn. I found a nice grassy knoll and Andi apparated to me. She nuzzled my cheek. I hadn't seen her lately. I closed my eyes and fell asleep, absorbing the vitamin D.

An owl squawked and dropped a letter on my face. I opened it up.

_Dear Nora, _

_I know as your father I shouldn't condone this, but I just wanted to tell you that I want to take you on a trip this summer. I'll meet you anywhere you want and we can take it from there. I also heard talk that the Quidditch World Cup was in England this summer, I'm sure your friends want to go. I'll have you back at the Weasleys's in time to go. Spending time with your friends while you're young is very important. I think that's what I'm supposed to say. Mostly, I'm pretty sure those twins would send out a search party if I kept you for too long. _

_Love, _

_Padfoot_

I grinned and held the letter close to my chest.

"Feel like going on another adventure this summer, Andi?" She was fast asleep. I closed my eyes again and smiled. I would spend the summer with my father for the first time since I could remember.


	14. Goblet of Fire part 1

I was trying to fix the flying Ford Angela that Arthur Weasley had hidden and then unfortunately lost when Harry and Ron had stolen it to fly to Hogwarts our second year. Gisborne and the other centaurs had run it out of the Dark Forest and found its way home.

The straps on my overalls kept sliding off my shoulders. I reached for my wand and waved it, tightening them so they fit perfectly. I was wearing a Quidditch t-shirt that was so ancient all you could make out on the front was a rough outline of a snitch. I had commandeered some Weasley hand-me-downs to get dirty. The only problem was that they were all taller than me so everything was too long. I'd just arrived here a few days before the car showed up. I told Arthur I could fix it and he could help when he wasn't at the Ministry. He got distracted all the time so it was mostly me trying to answer his questions.

Before I came, I had been traveling with Sirius and it was so naturally easy between us, I couldn't remember a time without him. It was only a few weeks and he told me I shouldn't miss spending time with my friends before the term started.

"Oy! Nora!" I saw three shadows down by my feet, I assumed that two were the twins but…

"If Ron's with you, tell him to leave now." I yanked a dead arachnomantula out of the works. My feet were grabbed, and I was pulled out from underneath the car and the brightness of the day shocked me.

"Hey!" I tossed the giant spider away. Charlie was standing in front of me, twins on either side. I hugged the elusive dragon boy and he picked me up off the ground. "How's my favorite dragon tamer? Long time no see!" He grinned and I noticed new slick scars on his arms.

"Just came to watch the Irish win the cup!" He sat me back down and told me to close my eyes. I did and he slipped a bracelet around my wrist. I flipped it around. It was the wrist I had broken earlier this year when I got on the wrong side of the gnarled Whomping Willow, and the moment caused it to pop a little. The leather bracelet had little pewter dragons dangling from it every few centimeters.

"Oh thank you, Charlie. You always were my favorite Weasley." I hugged him again. He smelled like dragon leather and fire. The twins cleared their throats self-consciously.

"Mum wanted us to tell you that we're going to get Harry this evening." I clapped my hands.

"Brilliant, then the whole clan will be back together." Charlie offered me a piggy back ride up the house after we rolled the car into the garage. I didn't decline.

* * *

"I think that I'll just use Andi…" I looked at all the people who were going to be using Floo powder to get to Number Four Privet Drive and shook my head. I wasn't even sure that the Dursley's had a fireplace.

"Well then, why don't we just use the flying car?" Fred pointed out.

"It's not road worthy, let alone sky ready." Andi chased a mouse out the door. I riffled around in my bag for a dress to wear.

"Fine," The twins grumbled. I rolled my eyes and they dumped bags of their stupid trick sweets into my rucksack while I still had it open. I looked at them because their mother hadn't seen this. They pressed a finger against their lips and smiled. I rolled my eyes and closed my bag as they hugged me.

"Have we told you today that you're the best, Nora?" Fred said.

"Have we told you today how much we adore you?" George said.

"Have I told you today that you two need a haircut?" They smirked and went to jump in the fireplace.

I waited until they were all gone and tracked down Andi. "Come on girl, we're going to see Harry." She crowed with excitement and I clapped my hands above my head as she touched them and I was pulled through the air and was spat out in the back garden of number four. Andi chased after some vermin and I walked into the house through the open sun room. The Dursleys were freaking out because the Weasleys were trapped behind the boarded up fireplace. I tapped Harry on the shoulder and he jumped.

"Nora!" He hugged me. "How are you not in the fireplace?"

"Andi." He nodded and I curtsied sarcastically to the Dursleys before I pulled a crow bar out of my rucksack. Having Harry hold the bag as I walked up to the fireplace and pried all the boards off. The Weasleys tumbled out and I stepped back.

"I say! Who do you think you are?!" Vernon wheezed. I rolled my eyes.

"I can't believe you've forgotten me already! I did threaten you last year, don't you remember?" I sashayed over to Dudley and ran my finger down the fat roll that covered his jawline. "There are some sweets in my rucksack. I'm sure Harry would get one for you if you asked. Don't snoop though, it's not polite to look through other people's bags." I purred and he turned as red as his father but it was because of embarrassment. "Fred, George, do you think you could help me with Harry's things?" They both raced with me up the stairs.

The boys grabbed Harry's packed trunk and I grabbed Hedwig's cage.

By the time we got downstairs, chaos had erupted. Dudley's tongue had grown in size and was lolling about like some hideous purple slug. I bit my tongue to keep from laughing as I ushered Harry into the roaring green fire to go back to the Burrows. Arthur put a hand on my shoulder and I turned.

"Nora, I think I need your assistance. I don't know what hex this is." I nodded.

"I thought it was quite funny." I pulled out my wand. That set the room into panic. I sighed. Dudley was lolling about because he looked like a beached whale with a big purple tongue. I understood it was cruel what I had done but the Dursleys were cruel, too. I moved closer to Dudley, who's eyes were growing large with fright.

"You stay away from my boy! You hear me?!" Vernon roared, red in the face. I looked up at them from where I was kneeling by Dudley's head.

"I should make this a permanent fixture. Heaven knows it would keep him from eating so much." I poked a fat roll that jiggled. I sighed.

"Don't you dare touch him."

"You three are worthless sods, you know that? Treating Harry the way you do. I mean sakes, you have hardly been feeding him all summer because your pudgy little Didy-kins over here would eat the house, kitchen sink and all." I sighed and Dudley was starting to choke on his tongue. He was sputtering. I saw the fear in the Dursleys's eyes and groaned. "But this is the real difference between you muggles and us wizards." I waved my wand and Dudley's tongue went back to normal size. "We help people." I helped Dudley up off the floor and gave him a swift kick to the backside. "You better behave or else your little piggy tail will become an _inoperable _fixture on that acre of chunk you call a posterior." He tried to hide behind his father again and Arthur gave me a stern look. I sighed and whistled. Andi flew in, holding a vole in her beak and we apparated together back to The Burrows where she finished her snack and Molly was waiting for me in the doorway. I trudged inside.

* * *

"You did what!?" Molly was furious. The twins and I sat across from her and she was turning shades of red I'd never seen before. I had to empty my rucksack for her to get rid of all the candy and the contents had filled the tabletop and the counter. When she incinerated the pile of candy in front of us, and the twins looked ill. I frowned and started putting all the various items back in my bag. The twins handed me books and vials and tins of potion making ingredients. Fred stopped when he found the empty piece of parchment that he sent me last Christmas sticking out of my journal. I blushed and ripped it out of his hands. He looked at me funny and I put it in my bag. George watched this exchange with a wicked grin. When my back was turned, he grabbed the book out of my bag and ran up the stairs.

"George Weasley! Stop!" I yelled and Molly ran into the kitchen from the parlor. Harry and Ron opened the door to his room and asked what was going on. I snapped my fingers and Andi grabbed the parchment out of George's hands and I caught it when she let it go. "Don't go through my things, George." Everyone looked shocked but Fred just handed me another book and I continued my work.

* * *

Bill and Charlie thought what I had done was absolutely fantastic. They were both fighting with the tables before they set them up for dinner. Harry and Ron were holding the forks and knives. The twins and I were holding plates. Charlie snapped one of Bill's table's legs off and Percy opened up his window and yelled at us to keep it down.

"Oy, Weatherby! Have you not finished that report yet? The fate of the free magical world rests on your shoulders." Percy gave me a look and slammed his window shut.

"See you and Percy are getting along swimmingly." Charlie smirked. Everyone knew about my blatant disregard of authority and the fact that I kept smarting off to the Minister last year. Percy wasn't too keen to hear that. He had a massive crush on Barty Crouch and it was miserable to hear him go on about it. I tried to not say anything because that was more trouble than it was worth but the twins would never let it drop that I had very controversial opinions about the Ministry. Percy and I had gotten in some heated disagreements over it which ended in us being sent to different time zones for a while.

"Nora, I think it's time to teach you how to fly." Fred said. We put the plates on the ground and they ran off to get their brooms. I sighed. I didn't really want to learn how to fly on a broom when I had Andi.

George sat his broom beside me.

"Alright, flying one-oh-one, put your hand over the broom and say firmly, 'Up!'." I did and the broom only wiggled a little. I tried again and this time the broom shot up and hit me in the face. I grabbed the broom and rubbed my forehead. The others giggled and I nodded.

"I don't think flying is my cup of tea." George told me to get on the broom and I did. It slowly raised and I was trying to remember to breathe. The broom just kept going up and up and up. "How do I go down?" I yelled. I tried pushing the handle down but that just made it mad. It zoomed off. I enjoyed the speed but not the lack of control. The broom spun around and I found myself hanging upside down. I wouldn't let this broom beat me. I tried to pull myself up but the broom shot backwards out of my hands and I was flailing through the air. I whistled and Andi caught me. I dropped to the ground with a thud. I caught the broom when it fell beside me.

"Why'd you hex it?" I looked at Fred. He shrugged. I had seen him mumbling.

"Thought it'd make it a little more interesting." I looked at him and crossed my arms.

"Oh Nora, you can't be exempt from the jokes the twins play just because you're their best friend." Charlie clapped me on the back and I sighed.

"Let me get back on and this time, hex it, and you'll wake up an old man." I got on the broom and was about to kick off when Molly came running out of the kitchen saying the food was ready. I handed George his broom back and was suddenly enveloped in a warm hug.

"Oh Nora, you needn't try to prove yourself to anyone. We all love you." I craned my neck back to look at Molly.

"What do you mean?" She squeezed me tighter.

"You don't have to do everything they ask, it could get you hurt." I snorted and nodded.

"Alright Mrs. Weasley. I'll try not to follow them so blindly." I said it jokingly. I was integral for the jokes. I was the keeper of the money for the Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. The boys would have spent it all on the product and kept none for expansion if I hadn't been taking a cut of it to the bank every month.

At dinner, I sat between Charlie and Bill. They and the twins were having a heated discussion about Quidditch. I knew enough to know which games they were talking about but other than that, I just looked at whoever was talking. I was excited about the World Cup tomorrow, though, I enjoyed watching the teams at least. Oliver, Seamus, Dean, and Thatcher all had written me, telling me to come visit them when I got there. They were in the Irish section so it wouldn't be too hard to find them. I hadn't heard back from Sawyer yet which was strange, he usually replied quickly.

When we were packing the food and dishes back inside, a pair of massive tropical birds came flying in with two boxes which they dropped at my feet. My name was on both of them. There was a note that said,

"_For whichever team you want to support." _It was signed with a paw print. I opened the boxes and pulled out a royal green and white dress with flying pictures of the Irish Quidditch team interspersed with little leprechauns. The girls came over and held it. I opened the second box and pulled out a rich scarlet and black dress that had the Bulgarian team along the bottom of the skirt and they were flying in a tight formation around the hem after a snitch. The top was embroidered with thick gold thread and red stones.

"These silly get ups are too fancy for Quidditch." The twins scoffed. I raised an eyebrow at them and they frowned.

"I love them. Sirius sends you such amazing things, Nora." Ginny said happily as she put the Irish dress up to her chest and twirled.

I really wanted to wear that dress but Ginny was enjoying it so much. "If you want to borrow it for tomorrow, that's okay." I smiled at her and handed Hermione the Bulgarian dress to look at. Crookshanks chased a gnome past me and I giggled. The muddy potato looking creature ran around me trying to find somewhere to hide.

"Are you sure, Nora? I mean, I know that your father sent these for you to wear." I nodded.

"I'll wear them when we get to Hogwarts."

"Don't be silly, dear, you wear the dress, it's tailored to you anyway." Molly took the dress out of Ginny's hands and handed it back to me. I gave her a confused look and she told me to pack them away before they got dirty. I frowned and did as I was told. Molly was acting very strangely today.

* * *

I slept on the floor of Ron's room near the stove with the twins. Arthur didn't even realize the lump of blankets and pillows on the floor were actually humans when he came in and woke us up way too early to go to the portkey. Fred tripped over my foot and landed on top of me. It knocked the air out of my lungs and he scrambled to get up but his feet got caught in the blankets. He put one hand on each side of my head. My face burned from blushing. George yawned and we looked at him. Fred got up and so did I. Harry and Ron were moaning and asking for five more minutes. I put on my Irish dress along with the matching tights Harry had gotten me for my birthday last year.

When we were ready, we all walked downstairs to eat before we left for the cup. I was leaning against George's shoulder while chewing a mouthful of pancake. I had shut my eyes and was almost asleep again before Fred knocked a cup of milk into my lap. I jolted awake and glared at him. I dug around for my wand in my jacket and drew the milk out of my clothes and back into the glass. Arthur and Molly looked bewildered at me.

"What?" I said a half a tick too sharply. "Sorry, I didn't mean to use that tone." I slipped my wand back into my jacket and Andi curled up on my shoulder.

"You aren't supposed to use magic outside of school." Molly chided.

"I've never gotten reprimanded for it." Arthur looked confused for a moment but we all had to pack up. Ron, Harry, and Hermione came down the steps, and the boys were bleary eyed. I wasn't even sure that Ron was conscious. We all set out for the Portkey. I took the twins hands and swung them like a child while we walked, humming a nonsensical song.

"You see very awake this morning, Nora." George said. Readjusting his knapsack.

"I suppose so, I don't know why though. Maybe it's just the thrill of going to the World Cup!" I smiled and then I saw Cedric and his father on the top of the hill and Ced winked at me. It was his last year at Hogwarts and he'd gotten loads better at potions since I'd started working with him. My transfiguration was much more up to snuff with him looking over my work, too. It was a good relationship we had going. He hugged me hello and Hermione and Ginny gave each other a look like 'he's gotten even cuter'.

"How've you been, Ced?" He smiled and we started looking for the Portkey.

"Great, how about you, Nora? Started a Ministry rebellion yet?" I shook my head.

"No, not yet." Mr. Diggory was talking to Harry.

"… I'm sure Ced will be telling his grandchildren someday about the time he beat Harry Potter in Quidditch." I scoffed.

"Dad, I told you, Harry fell off his broom… It was an accident." Ced muttered quietly trying to get this conversation to an end date.

Amos clapped him on the shoulder. "It's simple though, one stays on, one falls off, it's easy to see who the better flier is." I felt heat rise up on my cheeks.

"Harry's a phenomenal flier." I spat. "The bloody dementors were there. I'm sure you'd fall off your broom too, Mr. Diggory." He cast me a dark look.

"You must be the little spit fire causing trouble at the ministry. Black's daughter, eh?" He sized me up. I'd gotten a little darker from being down on the beaches with Sirius and that had brought out some of my freckles. I'm sure I looked like a little kid even though I was almost fifteen. "You better keep a tight rein on this one, Arthur, I can smell the trouble on her." I felt Mr. Weasley's hand on my shoulder.

"She's just being a teenager, you know how they are." He laughed and said the Portkey was just over that way. He pointed and I put a finger on the boot. We spun through the air and Ced's arm wrapped around my waist. The others fell out of the sky and Ced walked down through the air.

"Can't have you ruining that pretty dress." He said. His dad pulled him away from me and we shrugged at each other.

"Oh ho! Arthur, right on time." The boot was tossed into a box and we moved out of the way for the next group. A Ministry official pointed us to where we needed to go.

After we had to have the campsite owner's mind wiped we were on our way to set up our tents, being roughly familiar with the concept. Hermione, Harry, and I finally worked out how to set up the two tents. We crawled inside the tent into a house that looked like an old lady lived there, complete with the cat smell.

The tent the girls would be staying in was slightly smaller but not furnished with _ed du de_ _feline_ as the signature scent. Arthur pulled out some saucepans and tea kettles.

"How about you four go get some water while the rest of us go to get some firewood." The twins frowned.

"Why can't we go get water with Nora and they can get the firewood?" Arthur sighed.

"I might as well tell you now, I was trying to put it off. Your mother seems to be under the illusion that you," he pointed at the twins, and then pointed at me, "—Spend entirely too much time together and that you need to spend time with friends your own age." We three scoffed. Arthur held up his hands. "Let me finish, she also thinks that you boys are the reason Nora causes so much trouble and ends up in the infirmary every year with a life threatening injury."

"Mum's mental if she thinks that we spend too much time together!" I said. I stopped and blushed, "I mean Mrs. Weasley, sorry." I grabbed my back pack and left the tent. I'd go get some water by myself. I couldn't believe that I'd just called her mum. I mean yeah, I considered her my mother but that wasn't appropriate. I did spend most of my time there in the summer when they weren't busy, but still. I was just a friend of the family so I shouldn't assume anything otherwise.

I was walking quickly through the slowly awakening rows of tents. A little boy had toddled out of his tent with a wand, and he proceeded to find a slug and poke it. I didn't think he would do anything dangerous, he was too small for that. I kept walking towards the tap. Andi flew to my shoulder and squawked.

"Not a good time to beg for food." She pouted but stopped making annoying noises. I passed several other tents and they just kept becoming grander and grander until I reached the Irish section where a massive Irish flag was waving high and the tents looked like hollyhocks all covered in shamrocks. I stopped and admired the tents.

"Nice dress." I jumped. Thatcher was standing behind me wearing a tight green cardigan over a charcoal button up he paired with black pants and orange sneakers. I hugged him.

"It's so good to see you." He held me until I let go. It was an unspoken rule. When I hugged him I had to be the first to let go.

"Want to go to my tent? I'm staying with a couple of other blokes. They left early to go do… something. I just met them a few weeks ago, they wanted a third person to go in for the tent and space rental. Honestly, they bought the tent and told me to babysit it and I'd get it after the World cup." We walked to one of the shamrock covered tents and he pulled back the flap. I walked into a beautifully decorated flat with silver and green furniture and a silver table. I sat down on the couch and sighed. "So what happened?" Thatch went to the kitchen and started making tea.

"I am apparently outstaying my welcome at the Weasleys' home. I also called Mrs. Weasley my mum." I took a pillow from the couch and screamed into it. "Can't I just live in a tent like this forever and never worry about trying to find a true and solid family? I mean I love Hagrid, Remus, and Sirius but it's just not the same. You know?" Thatch came over with the tea tray. He fixed the tea just the way I like it.

"I don't know how you could spend _too_ much time with them. They invite you over all the time. And Fred's in luv…" I glared at him. "They couldn't run their joke shop without you." I sipped my tea and let it clear my head. "You can't keep ignoring the fact Fred is trying to be your knight in shining armor… like that could ever happen." He muttered. I rolled my eyes.

"I hardly think that. Yesterday he hexed the broom I was on so I would fall off." Thatcher drank his tea and pondered for a moment.

"Do you think that he was trying to be the hero?"

"What? Falling off a broom a hundred feet in the air is very roantic." Thatcher gave me the 'are you serious girl?' look. I clenched my jaw.

"He was trying to be the one to save you." I frowned. "Think about it, Nora." I sipped my tea. "Ever since they met you, both of them have been trying to impress you. You just never give them the chance to. You're always off doing dangerous shite and it's really scary that no one knows what you've been doing until you end up in the hospital wing with a vampire bite or werewolf slash. George sees you as his sister. Fred on the other hand, he'll never admit it to you unless it's in disappearing ink again—that wanker—but he's scared that you'll get yourself killed and he just wants to prove himself to be useful helping you."

"How'd you get so wise?"

"I don't know, years of experience," he smirked. I drained the rest of my tea.

"I'm going to try and stop being such a dangerous sod… although it's in my genes."

"Oh my little Nora," he took my hand. "You'll never stop being like that, but maybe if you actually open up and let Fred and George in, they'll stop getting worried sick about you." I moved closer to him and he hugged me.

"Thatcher! You're here, with a girl?!" A boy walked in with Sawyer I jumped up and smiled. He looked different, though, he looked angrier and darker than before. "I didn't know you were into girls I was pretty sure you were… of a different persuasion." I looked at Sawyer who looked down. I walked up to him.

"Why didn't you write me back and tell me you were coming?" He wouldn't look at me. He was wearing long sleeves which was weird. Especially in summer.

"Go away, Nora." He said quietly. "I don't want to see you." I scoffed.

"Don't want to see me?" I pushed his sleeve up and quietly gasped. He had the dark mark on the inside of his wrist. He pulled his arm out of my grasp and pushed his sleeve down.

"Go away." I moved past him, still in shock.

"Sawyer…" I said looking at him. The others were very confused about what just happened between us.

"Leave tonight, it…" He fought to say the words. "Just leave, it won't be safe. Stop trying to be a hero." I made eye contact with him and his look broke my heart. I wanted him to tell me everything but knew it wouldn't happen for a long time. I felt a darkness around him that hadn't been there before.

"My condolences on the loss of your father." I murmured.


	15. Goblet of Fire Part 2

I was sitting in a tree in the woods between the Quidditch pitch and the tents. I put my earphones on and listened to my enchanted Walkman that played all the songs I wanted and nothing I didn't. Something hit my foot. I looked down. The twins were standing there, not smiling. I put my headphones around my neck and jumped down.

"What?"

"We were worried about you," George said. I put my Walkman in my pocket.

"No one could find you," Fred said. I saw his eyes slip down to my wrist where Charlie's bracelet dangled.

"I… I got some horrible news and needed to work it through my brain." I walked very solemnly back to the tent where a friendly looking man was sprawled out on the grass with some tea.

I sat down and everyone's eyes were on me. "Sorry I just kind of took off. I did get some water though." Andi pulled the big glass water jug out of my backpack for me. I put it on the ground and looked around, everyone was still watching me. "What's wrong?" I said, running my fingers through the grass.

"Arthur, who is this Irish fan?" The visitor asked, breaking the silence.

"This is my sons' best friend, Nora Black." Ludo smirked.

"So you're the little lady who has the Ministry in a tizzie, huh? I'm going to shake your hand." I reached over and we shook. "You're the future and the future looks bright." I smiled and his eyes got big and he leaned back. I looked at Harry and his eyes were wide, too. I went back to my spot. Hermione leaned over and whispered.

"Your eyes were both black and now they're back to normal." I pulled out my hand mirror I used to talk to Harry every couple of days and looked at my eyes. They were back to normal but why would they both go black?

"Care to place a bet on the game, Arthur?" Ludo Bagman asked. Mr. Weasley shook his head but the twins jumped up and put all their money down that Ireland would win but Krum would catch the snitch. I rolled my eyes and pulled out some of my money. They twins and I agreed we'd split the winnings. It was a crazy bet but I could see the twins winning. They'd have no money for souvenirs and come to me begging for some since I still sold potions to the Ministry and ran errands for the teachers. They gave him all their money and I covered my eyes.

"There's a reason I'm in charge of the finances for the joke business."

"Oh Nora," Fred and George wrapped their arms around me. "We'll bring home more money then we'll know what to go with and then you'll see, we are very business minded." I shook my head.

"What would you do without me?" I laughed.

"Probably get in loads more trouble." I pressed my face into Fred's sweater and he brushed his hand down my hair.

He and George leaned down close. "What's happened, Nora?" I looked at them and pulled them into the tent.

"I saw Sawyer." They didn't have any witty quips. I took a breath. "I think he's a Death Eater now. I think something bad is going to happen tonight, too." The twins frowned at each other and then me.

"Are you sure?" George put his hand on my shoulder and I nodded.

"Well, we have to tell dad." Fred said. We walked back out. Charlie and Bill were there now. They saw my face and both gave me a concerned look. I shook my head.

Barty Crouch appeared before us and my breath caught. He looked at us. Percy popped up and offered him some tea. Crouch met my eyes and narrowed them.

"Hello, Mr. Crouch." I said politely. He nodded but it didn't do any good. "I… um, I think there might be an attack tonight on the campground, sir." Everyone sputtered on their tea.

"Nora, now isn't the time." Percy hissed. I took a deep breath.

"Percy, please just let me say something." I looked back up at Crouch who was slowly turning red with anger. "I know that security is very tight here, sure, but I think that Death Eaters are going to attack after the match. I think Tom Riddle is going to rise again and-" Crouch cut me off.

"I should have you arrested this moment, Black." I clamped my mouth shut. "Trying to stir up all this anti-Ministry sentiment. Planning attacks on the World Cup with your father and his friends." My shoulders drooped and I glared at him. He handed Percy his cup back and said he needed to deal with a real issue but he would continue to keep an eye on me. Percy looked at me with a snide smile.

"Guess he put you in your place, somebody had to." I looked over at Percy and shook my head.

"Percy, you have your head shoved so far up that man's ass you can't see." I started to walk away. Andi was perched on my shoulder.

"Nora." Arthur gestured for me to come closer. I did. He stood up. "Let's take a walk before lunch is ready, yeah?" I kept pace with him as we got out of the campground. I looked over at Mr. Weasley.

"I'm sorry I keep mucking things up. I just say things sometimes. It gets other people in trouble, too. But there really might be an attack tonight. They keep acting like I'm trying to take down the government, too. I just made a few sarcastic quips. I'm a teenage girl for that matter. I guess if I can shake the foundation that much, there's preexisting problems." Arthur listened to me talk all about Sawyer and how bad I felt about taking up all the twins' time. When I was done he put his hands on my shoulders.

"You were right to say something to Crouch. You were polite, and not confrontational. That shows how much you've matured over the summer. I will work on having at least a few more people on the lookout tonight. Ludo seems to enjoy you and your recklessness so I'm sure he can wrangle up a couple. Just… try to stay out of the way of high ranking Ministry officials, alright? I don't want to have to try and bail you out of jail." I smiled.

"Thank you so much, Mr. Weasley." He put his arm around my shoulders.

"And honestly, I don't understand Molly's concern about you and the boys, they really care about you which is nice to see. They enjoy having you around and talk about you when you're not. If you ask me, they only got as many OWLS as they did because they thought it would impress you, not because they cared about the tests." We were just entering the camp sites. "So I think you actually make them a little bit better when you come around." I smiled at the ground.

"You really think that I'm not outstaying my welcome?" He laughed.

"Heavens no! Why would you think that? Molly adores you, you're her second daughter. She's just worried that your recklessness stems from spending too much time with Fred and George." I smirked.

"Pretty sure that's in my DNA, sir."

"I bet you're right." We walked up to the tents and everyone was talking and laughing. I smiled and went to sit by Harry and Ron.

"Everything okay, Nora?" Harry asked. I nodded.

"Yeah, it's fine." I got a plate of sausage and eggs and chowed down. Charlie was talking heatedly to Bill about the prospects of the match and the twins jumped in saying how the three chasers were the best they'd ever been for Ireland. Ron jumped in about how Krum was the best Seeker in the world. I looked over at Ginny and Hermione who rolled their eyes with me. Percy shot me a dark look a couple of times and I ignored him.

Finally, we went to go to our seats. The twins and I took hands and we skipped through the crowd singing an Irish song which got us some evil looks. I used my coffers to buy everyone a happy big Irish rosette. I also bought a miniature Krum and Troy with Firebolts so they raced around until I put them in my bag. Thatcher walked over to me and we had Hermione take a picture of us. The film spit out of the Polaroid and he shook it to get it to develop. It was a cute picture. I duplicated it and handed Thatch the original.

"See you after the match?" He smiled. I nodded.

"Oh, I'm sure I'll have to go celebrate when the Irish win." He smiled and hugged me.

"You're going to tell me about what happened this morning." I nodded.

"Yeah. I better go catch up with the others. Stay safe and enjoy the match, Thatch!" He smiled and waved. I watched him get swallowed up by the crowd as I ran to my friends. Oliver stopped me and introduced me to his parents. He also said he was on the reserve for a Quidditch team. I hugged him and told him how exciting that was. He told me that my dress was fantastic and I blushed.

"Thanks, Ollie." It was his turn to turn a pink around his ears. I waved goodbye and told him to keep writing to me. I stopped dead in the middle of the crowd working their way into the stadium and looked. There was a group of men wearing dark suits and robes standing away from the crowd. I knew exactly who they were, Crabbe, Goyle, McNair, Malfoy, the seniors, I should say. They were speaking in hurried tones. I watched them but then Lucius saw me. He straightened up and dispersed the group. I narrowed my eyes at him and he glared at me. I wouldn't let some blood elitist get me scared. The twins found me like that, watching Malfoy walk away.

"Nora…" I shook my head and walked with them up the velvet stairs. Everything was so luscious and purple. We had great seats. Were we could see all the action. The twins were twittering with their brothers. I took out my miniature Krum and Troy and they were acting like they were going to fight. I gave them their brooms and they soared around over my lap trying to outdo each other. I smiled. I rarely got such a time to enjoy simple things like this. I had played the piano a few times when Sirius and I were in the tropics but it wasn't like when Sawyer and I played in Diagon Alley. Percy and Arthur kept shaking hands with important Ministry officials. Percy even broke his glasses he bowed so low once. I put my miniature seekers back in my bag. I flipped through my velvet program. Bill reached over George and tugged my skirt.

"Yeah?" I said, looking at the tomb raider with a dragon earring.

"What's wrong, Nora?" I shook my head.

"Nothing, why?"

"You seem abnormally well behaved." I rolled my eyes.

"Something tells me that I should try and keep my head down a little bit since I'm in the Minister's box." He grinned.

"What? Don't feel like getting kicked out for being a political activist?" I shook my head.

"Not until the match is done." He ruffled my hair and leaned back to his seat to talk to his dad.

The Minister showed up then. I didn't try and hide but I did go back to reading my program. I heard Fudge laugh at something and then he came over and greeted Harry as an old friend. I didn't look up until I felt his hands on my shoulders. He leaned down.

"Black, I see you've come to the World Cup, hope you are behaving yourself. From what I hear, Crouch had words with you earlier and you said some very concerning things. I'd tread lightly if I was you." I looked at him and shook my head.

"I shall tread at whatever pressure I deem necessary to protect the people around me, sir. I was only trying to warn you but since you didn't listen, it doesn't matter." He squeezed my shoulders hard but I didn't react. He went to talk to Harry. The twins tried to talk to me about Quidditch but I was still trying to quell my anger.

When the Veela for Bulgaria came out, the twins covered their ears but soaked up their beauty. My problem was I'd seen too many Veela in their real form to think they were pretty. I sighed and leaned back. The leprechauns were better because they dropped gold on us. I put the ruddy Minister out of my mind and scooted to the edge of my seat to watch the match.

It was an impressive show of skill and cunning. When Krum and Troy went into a nose dive for a snitch I couldn't see. I grabbed George's leg and Fred's hand without looking. I didn't realize I had until George pried my too tight grip off his leg and rubbed it.

"Ow." He said looking at me. Fred's hand slipped out of mine and I blinked, not showing how nice it had felt and how sad I was that it was gone. We watched the rest of the match. The twins and I won our bet after the hijinks of the Leprechauns and Veela. Krum caught the snitch but Ireland won. We collected our substantial winnings and the twins put most of it into my backpack.

"For safe keeping." We agreed.

"I told Thatch I'd meet up with him, see you back at the tent, yeah?"

"Sure you don't want us to go with you? This morning…" Fred said with his hand on my arm.

"I'll be fine." I nodded, more to reassure myself than the twins.

They took off to the tent to celebrate with their family while I went to find my best friend in the crowd of celebrators. He was standing by his Shamrock covered tent, and his grey eyes scanned the crowd calmly. He waved me over with a smile. I grinned at him and we went in his tent to talk about the match.

I knew he was going to ply me for information about what happened between Sawyer and me. After I let it spill that there might be an attack tonight; he said he'd try and help me any way he could. He brushed a wild lock of my hair behind my ear and I frowned.

"I understand why people follow Tom Riddle; fear, power, acceptance, family, but Sawyer was never someone like that." I pulled my record player out of my knapsack along with the stack of record Seamus gave me last year for my birthday. I put one on and sat down on the couch. I kicked my boots off and sighed.

"No, there will be no sitting when a song like this is playing." Thatcher held out his hand.

"I don't want to dance, Thatch." He shook his head.

"I didn't ask what you wanted, Barkers. I want to dance, and you need a laugh." I groaned and he pulled me up from my seat. Thatch set up my arms and we danced around the living room. Our music was punctuated with the loud cheers and yells of the celebrating Irish.

I put my head against Thatch's chest and we kept dancing, getting progressively slower and slower. He was a phenomenal dancer. His mother had taught him.

"When's the last time you used any of those pranks you make on someone?" I shrugged. I pulled out some of the ton tongue taffies.

"I've been too busy trying to do… other things." I frowned. I really hadn't been pranking all that often lately. "I did give one to Harry's cousin. Made his tongue swell up and it was purple and four feet long before the muggles would let me shrink it back down." He laughed a little.

"How's Sirius?" I shrugged and picked up my miniature Krum and Troy who were bickering silently. I pulled out their brooms and they went to trying to outfly each other. "Stop shrugging! You were blessed with a voice so use it!" He chided.

"Fine, he's fine. I haven't heard from him since yesterday when he sent me the dresses. I liked it down south where we were. It was nice." I fiddled with the little seashell keychain I had on my backpack now.

"But…?" I hated it when he saw right through me.

"I just can't stop thinking about how I am supposed to find Pettigrew to clear my father's name so we can be a proper family." That elicited a laugh.

"Nora, you have Hagrid, Professor Lupin, Snape, McGonagall, Dumbledore, Seamus, Dean, me, Hermione, and all the Weasley's _along with_ Sirius. There's no way you'll ever have a 'proper' family, you already have a crazy one that loves you."

I punched him softly in the arm and he shrugged. "How'd you get so smart?"

"Magic." I shook my head and smiled. Outside there were screams. I bolted up and out the tent without putting my shoes on. I had my wand at the ready and fought my way against the crowd. The muggles who owned the campground were floating high in the sky. Thatch grabbed my arm.

"You'll need this." He put my backpack over my shoulders and he followed me towards the group of hooded figures. They were marching towards us, the ones who weren't levitating the muggles were casting out random curses or setting the occasional tent on fire when it got in their way. I looked around. There were too many people around for me to just cast curses left and right. I stopped and thought about Remus telling me to use my wit and not force to subdue my enemies.

"_Fireworks_." The twins' voice was close to me. I looked around but they were nowhere to be seen. I pulled my firework stash out and handed a few of the rockets to Thatch. I saw Ludo, Bill, and Charlie running with Mr. Weasley. I ran up to them.

"I can make a distraction so you can catch the muggles."

I held up the fireworks.

"Nora, it is much too dangerous, you and your friend need to get out here!" Arthur yelled above the screams.

"Dad, Nora's right. There are enough of us to catch the muggles and she and her friend can distract the Death Eaters to have them loose focus." Charlie said. I smiled at him in thanks.

"Alright…" I looked at Ludo.

"Sounds like a plan if I've ever heard one." Thatch and I got behind the Death Eaters and yelled before we shot the fireworks at their backs.

"Oy! You big ugly twats!" Thatch was shocked at my language but joined in yelling all sort of profanities at them as we shot fireworks. The ones at the back got the brunt of our firepower. They all started turning around. I kept my eyes on the floating muggles. They were still up there so it meant we hadn't hit the right Death Eaters. They start disapperating.

"They're leaving?" Thatch was confused.

"They think that they're about to get caught…" I pulled out more jokes and ran closer. I was throwing dye and dung bombs. I was in the middle of the pack of Death Eaters who were all now sputtering and coughing. I started pulling off masks and committing the faces to my memory. Most of the faces I saw before they got away looked like they were parents of kids at Hogwarts. I got out of the group. Arthur had the Muggles safely on the ground. I sighed and Thatch hugged me.

"You were bloody brilliant!" We rocked back and forth. We'd saved the muggles without using violence and only a little swearing. Ludo clapped us on the shoulders.

"Fine work, you two!"

"Thank you, I saw some of the men, there was Lucius Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Mc—" Fudge came running towards me. Ludo stepped out of the way. Fudge grabbed me by the collar and I slipped. I was suspended by my dress and the stitches started popping. The others were yelling at him to stop. There was a madness in his eyes.


	16. Goblet of Fire Part 3

"You! You did this! You wanted to make the Ministry look incompetent!" I shook my head. I saw his wand shaking in his fist. I tried to get my wand from its place in my backpack.

"I told you about it! Why the _hell_ would I tell you about an attack I was _a part of_?" He shook me so hard my teeth clattered. I grabbed onto his wrists and dug my nails in.

"You're going to the Ministry for questioning. Bagman! Find someone to escort Black to a holding cell." Ludo was very conflicted. He grunted, "Arthur, if you could, I think it'd be best if you did it." Everyone was quiet Arthur tried to protest but Fudge was still turning red. I saw a green shower of sparks and it turned into a skull with a snake coming out of its mouth. I pointed and everyone gasped.

"You going to blame that on me too!?" I yelled. Arthur looked scared.

"The others…" I looked at Ludo.

"Can you take me, Mr. Bagman? Arthur needs to get my friends safe." Arthur looked at me and hugged me.

"I'll get you out soon." I shrugged. At least they weren't sending me to Azkaban. Ludo took me and we apparated.

I was dropped into the laps of some Aurors who didn't look very busy. Ludo went back to the World Cup. I was photographed holding a sign and wearing a very fed up smirk. I knew that would be plastered all over the Daily Prophet tomorrow. The Aurors' took my backpack and put me in a room to wait for them to question to me. A rough looking old man with a batty eye hobbled in with a noble looking African wizard. They sat across from me. I was leaning back in my chair with my dirty cold feet on the table. I took them down and looked at the wizards.

"Hello, Ms. Black, I've heard a lot about you." The African wizard said softly.

"When can I leave?" I asked, rubbing my eyes.

"When you've answered the questions we're about to ask ya, that's when." Mad Eye Moody said.

I leaned on the table. "Which eye should I look at to see if you're talking to me or not?" I said.

"I think I'll like this girl." He leaned back in his chair.

"Shall we begin? We've had a long night as I'm sure you have, too." I nodded.

"Can't I just tell you what happened?" They looked at each other and shrugged.

"I suppose that will work."

"I was walking around the World Cup and saw a group of 'prestigious purebloods' we all know the group of which I speak, talking in a very suspicious manner. I informed the Minister of this, he was unreceptive. My friend and I distracted the Death Eaters while the Ministry Officials rescued the muggles."

"You're very brave for such a young girl."

"I'm also reckless, bull headed, dangerous, and funny. You're behind the ball on 'brave'." I stood up.

"May I leave now?"

"Sit _down._" I did and pulled my hair out of my face.

"Did you really subdue a group of grown Death Eaters with fireworks and dye bombs?"

"And dung bombs. I would assume that if you went knocking on doors on your suspects you would find several men with blue, pink, green, and red skin."

Moody was laughing heartily. "This girl really will be the end of the Ministry, but it'll get things done!"

I was taken to a holding cell where I could see two Aurors who were reading the Daily Prophet.

"Oy!" I yelled. The nearest dark wizard catcher. "Can you tell me something?" He looked up at me with a sour look.

"What do you want, Black?" He spat.

"Were you here when my father was arrested?" He shook his head but yelled at the other Auror because he had been.

"I was, yeah."

"Tell me, what made you look at a finger and say, 'you know what, Sirius Black was a great wizard so he obviously did such a soddy job at destroying this man and killing twelve Muggles that Pettigrew must be dead because _we have his finger_." The Aurors looked at me like I was a pile of rubbish. I crossed my arms and smirked again. "You obviously had enough evidence to convict a man to Azkaban." Arthur and Remus burst into the room.

"Nora!" They both said. I smiled. Remus came to talk to me while Arthur bargained for my release. Moody came in from his office when the men started arguing.

"Shut up!" He boomed, banging his staff on the floor, it spat out red sparks. "The only thing this girl is guilty of is being smarter than you worthless sods." He glared at the Aurors and they glared back.

"Take her, I'm sure the Minister will be watching her closely." Moody put a hand on my shoulder.

"You have to cooperate and do some… services for the ministry, there will be a letter arriving to outline this in more detail. Constant Vigilance, Renora, you have immense potential." He handed me my backpack.

Remus gave me an earful about my tongue with authority figures as we walked to the fireplaces in the main hall.

"Remus…" I groaned. "I was _polite_ and he _still_ attacked me. I just want to go to The Burrow and go to bed. I'm exhausted." Arthur put a hand on my shoulder.

"There's a good chance that Molly will make you stay up and eat hot cakes because she'll think you've wasted away while incarcerated." I sighed. My eyelids were getting heavy.

"Fine." I hugged Remus. He smoothed my wild hair down. "Nora, I fear you're going to end up here a lot more than you should."

"I don't think they could handle me in here very often."

When I stumbled out of the chimney, the twins were sleeping in the living room. I sighed and went to change. My poor dress was filthy. I would have to scour it with all sorts of enchantments later to clean it but I was so tired. I changed in the kitchen and used a towel to clean my face, Arthur appeared and I put my finger to my lips. I went to the living room and curled up on one of the dilapidated couches and pulled the knitted blanket up around me. I closed my eyes and went to sleep. I was deep in slumber when I felt someone brush a lock of my hair out of my face. I didn't open my eyes.

"Freddie, stop bothering her, she's had a long night. We can work on WWW until she wakes up." Fred sighed.

"She's too reckless, but Fudge is a twat… treating her the way he does." My blanket was pulled up more.

"You keep acting like that and there's no amount of lying you can do to convince yourself you don't love her." George laughed and I heard the rustle of papers.

"I do love her… as a sister, the same way you love her!" George snorted.

"Uh-huh, you love her the same way Ginny loves Harry like a brother." Fred walked away and I heard him grumble something. I rolled over and went back to sleep.

A few hours later I decided I better wake up, the house, except for the living room was buzzing with action. I walked into the kitchen in my pajamas printed with little fluttering snitches. I went to get a drink and Molly saw me.

"Sit down! Sit down! I'll get you everything, just sit." I rested my head on my hand and sighed.

"Nora!" The twins came thundering down the stairs. They pulled up chairs on either side of me and started bombarding me with questions. I answered a few until Bill and Charlie came in and told them to sod off and let me eat. The twins didn't leave but they let me eat. I was shoveling the eggs and sausage into my mouth as fast as I could because I was starving.

"So you were still being snarky with the Aurors." Fred and George asked me as I got dressed behind a blanket I hung over a stretched rope in Ron's room. I tossed the dresses out of my back pack that I needed to wash.

"Yeah, they had an attitude and I didn't feel like putting up with it." I growled when I realized I didn't have any clean clothes. I pulled my Bulgarian dress and some black striped tights. I pulled down the blanket and gathered up my clothes in my arms. I slid down the bannister to Mrs. Weasley doing the wash in the garden. I put my dresses into the pile and started hanging up the clean clothes to dry. The twins fooled around while they were helping. I struggled to reach the high side of the line. Fred leaned from behind me and pinned it to the line. I felt my cheeks get hot. His hand grazed the small of my back.

"Thanks, Freddie." I moved away quickly and finished hanging the first big load of clothes.

I was sitting in a train car arguing with Lee Jordan over how well Ludo Bagman did at commentating the World Cup. Thatch was writing in his journal like always. I leaned back and read his pretty handwriting.

"Oh? You're chronicling my brush with the law for your memoirs huh?" He nodded. I leaned over and Fred and George were arguing about where the exploding gobsmackers belonged, the incendiary section or the trick candy section of the order form.

"They go in the candy section, the fact you can throw them and they catch on fire is just a plus. Where are we on the Finch Fudges?" We kept talking about the different problems. The twin's had filled my backpack up with skiving snack boxes and I told them that unless we could work the kinks out we couldn't put them on the order form. Some of the stuff they originally wanted was actually dangerous and I had completely shut them down. Pranking should be fun, not deadly. I left them and went back to talking to Thatcher.

"You didn't happen to get my record player from your tent, did you?" He nodded, not looking up from his notebook. Andi appeared in a quick flash of flame. She looked rather smug with a half-eaten licorice wand in her mouth.

"Yeah, it's in my trunk, I'll get it back to you when we unpack." My phoenix curled up in my lap and gulped down her treat.

"Did you steal that, you blasted bird?" She wouldn't look at me. Lee Jordan leaned over and gave her some of his jelly beans. I stroked her head and she made happy sounds.

When we got to the station, Hagrid hollered hello. I waved. Fred, George, Lee, Thatcher, and I all squeezed into one of the covered wagons. It had a slightly musty smell. It was dark, it was raining hard against the windows. I rubbed my eyes.

We walked into the Great Hall. I hugged Neville who handed me a potted flower that hadn't bloomed. "Thanks… Neville."

"Its moon beam rose." I turned the pot in my hands.

"Its… a nice flower."

"It only blooms during the full moon." I looked up at him and I smirked. "Because of your newly acquired full moon habits." It was true, during the full moon everyone knew it was best to leave me alone because I was always grumpy and in pain.

George and Fred had taken to spending the night with me somewhere no one could hear us. We built a tree house at the Burrow and went up to my secret music room when we were at school. It was always painful. Feeling like I was half human and half wolf but never fully either when there was a full moon. There were nights when all I could do was whimper and the twins would both pull me into their laps and try and sooth me. I tried to get away from them so they didn't have to see me go through that every month but they always found me.

It was hard when I was traveling with Sirius. He'd seen how hard the transformation was on Remus and when we were down in the tropics he was helpless. He'd rock me back and forth. One night, on a very bad night, he cried and I just fought harder to control my shaking.

He wrote to Remus and Remus had no idea how to make it better. He suggested Wolfsbane potion but when I talked to Snape about it, he was dubious. It didn't stop the transformation but it did tame the wolf. I tried it but to no avail. I resigned myself to suffering one night a month.

I sat next to George and Neville. Fred had invited Angelina over and she sat between the twins. I turned my back so I didn't see my spot being taken by someone else. My ears turned red. Neville asked me about getting arrested. I shrugged.

"Oy! Black!" Malfoy swaggered over, a copy of the Daily Prophet rolled in his hands. "I got this recently and was wondering if you could sign this." He held out the issue with my mugshot plastered on the front. I turned around and crossed my arms.

"Malfoy, I'm flattered that you kept this paper just for my picture." He rolled his eyes.

"Actually, I thought it was the best picture I'd seen, surprised you aren't still behind bars for what you've been saying about the Ministry."

"You mean what I've been saying about your dad, right? You couldn't give a damn what I was saying about the Ministry." Everyone's conversations had stopped. I stood up.

"At least my father isn't a mad mass murderer." I smiled.

"At least my father loves me, Draco." He turned red.

"Attention!" Dumbledore boomed. I sat down and George nudged me. I looked up at him and he smiled.

He leaned close to my ear, "I swear, if anyone else had your wit and half your nerve… they'd've taken over the world by now." I blushed and leaned against him. He pinched my side and I jolted away. We watched the first years get sorted. I cheered for the new Gryffindors. I was happy. I was back at Hogwarts with my friends, there wasn't anything that would be coming after Harry this year. I could be free to my own devices for once.

That is until Dumbledore decided to make another announcement and I saw Barty Crouch in behind the table.

"It's my honor to tell you all that the House Quidditch Cup will not be happening this year." Fred, George, Harry, and Angelina all looked at each other, shocked. I covered my eyes. I hoped this didn't have to do with the thing everyone had been hinting at all summer. Percy had been very smug about the fact that he knew something that involved us and we didn't.

A quick word on the Nora/Percy relations. After he heard how I was treated at the World Cup, he'd stopped being so unbearable towards me, although I was sure he thought I deserved it. Mr. Crouch and the Minister would never be that brash and violent without reason.

I drank my pumpkin juice and shoved a whole crème puff in my mouth. I didn't want to have anything violent or dangerous happen this year. There was a deafening roll of thunder in the great hall and everyone looked at the large oak doors that had banged open. Moody was standing there, except… he seemed different. I couldn't put my finger on it. The way he carried himself, the set of his shoulders. When he walked, he acted like his metal foot was too heavy and a new weight for him.

"Eh, isn't that one of the guys who questioned you?" George asked. I nodded.

"He's acting… weird, though…" George looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

"Nora, he's as mad as a bloody hatter, I'm sure he acts weird all the time."

"Alistair!" Dumbledore greeted him and he took his seat at the table. The not-mad-eye pulled out a flask and swigged something that I was immediately suspicious about. "As I was saying, this year, Hogwarts will be the host of the Tri-Wizard tournament."

"You've got to be JOKING!" I said loudly. I'd read about it. My Ministry approved service would have to be setting up these bloody tasks. That's what Moody was talking about.

"I am certainly _not_ joking, Ms. Black. But, since we're on the topic… I heard a rather funny one this summer about a hag, a leprechaun, and a troll that walk into a pub…" He was cut off and resumed his original train of thought. "Oh yes, Tri-wizard tournament…" Dumbledore went on to talk about the history of the competition. I sunk lower in my seat. I put my head on the table when the words 'death toll' came out. I perked up considerably when he said only students seventeen and older could put their names in for consideration. I almost cheered while Fred grumbled and George became irate. We were dismissed and Fred and George stood, glaring at Dumbledore.

"It's not fair, we're seventeen in April. It's not going to stop me from putting my name in anyway. We'll do it together, George." The twins looked very determined.

"A thousand Galleon prize, what do you think we could do with a thousand galleons with WWW, Nora?" Fred asked. The spark in his eye made me sigh because I knew how much they both wanted to open a brick and mortar store in Diagon Alley.

"But you're not seventeen, so you can't enter the contest. We'll find the money somewhere else, and as for the 'Glory' of winning to competition, name one previous Champion, doesn't even have to have won before. No one will remember you that long anyway." I looked at Harry and breathed a sigh of relief. Harry wouldn't be able to enter the contest so he could stay out of it this year. He grinned back at me too. We'd talked about the fact that he was always walking into trouble or it was finding him. This year could have been a nice normal year.


	17. Goblet of Fire Part 4

"Do you think that the Durmstrang's boys will be hot?" Pavarti asked as she put a little party hat on Andi.

"I would reckon so, all that muscle and fur." I said with a contented sigh. I had bought a poster of Victor Krum and hung it on the wall. All the girls looked over at him and sighed with me. A little tropical bird bumped against the window by my bed and I let it in. He dropped the letter and flitted about, very excitedly. I gave him a drink and he perched on the bed frame, awaiting my reply. I scanned the letter and became very angry.

I scrawled my response and the bird flew off quickly. "What's the matter, Nora?" Hermione asked, looking over her book.

"I need to have words with Harry," I stormed out. The common room was empty and I ran up the stairs to Harry's dormitory. Pounding on the door, I yelled.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER!" Ron opened the door in his pajamas.

"Nora! What's the matter?" Harry peeked around him and walked out with a scared look on his face. I grabbed him by his ear and pulled him down the steps. I took him to a hidden corner that was usually used for snogging.

"Why didn't you tell me about your scar hurting, or the nightmares?" I clapped him on the back of the head. "I just got a letter from Sirius about it. We can't have secrets, Harry, we're practically siblings."

"You just seemed busy and I didn't want to bother you over nothing." I groaned and banged my head softly against the wall.

"Harry, we are a team. As hypocritical as it may seem coming from me, but you can't go fight Tom Riddle by yourself." He gave me a sassy look. "Shut up. I'm going to stop trying to do everything by myself, alright? We need to work together too. I want Tom Riddle as dead as much as you do. We'll work on it this year since you won't be able to get in trouble with the bloody tournament. Thank Merlin that you aren't old enough yet." He nodded.

"I was relieved, too." I hugged him.

"Go to bed, you sod." I ruffled his shaggy hair and we took our respective stairs back up to bed.

* * *

After having to pop bubtubules to collect the pus and feeding Skrewts, Andi loathed the skrewts so it was always easy to have her go away during Hagrid's class, we had to go to divination. I almost fell asleep since it was so dark and warm. My head kept drifting down and when I didn't jerk it back up either Seamus or Neville would shake my arm. I started doodling on my parchment. I drew the constellation Sirius. Then sketched out 'Krum' and 'Troy' with little hearts around them. I was working on a real masterpiece when I felt everyone looking at me. I looked up and Professor Trelawney was looking at me through her thick glasses.

"Yes?" I asked, setting my quill down.

"What does it signify when someone is born under Venus and Mars?" She said lightly. I always felt like I was speaking to a rather large beetle when I spoke with her. I tapped my quill against my lips thoughtfully for a moment.

"That they'll be hell in the streets and in the sheets?" There were loud snickers around the classroom. The professor was about to tell me off and I sighed. "When someone is born under both Venus and Mars it means that he or she will be passionate to a fault in their endeavors and that they will fight for that which drives them. They're bang up soldiers, too." Everyone was silent. I even got a couple of slack jawed looks. "It may surprise you all, but I do, very rarely, do the homework and read the book before class starts." The professor nodded happily and bobbed along, assigning us some homework. A little while on, when we were working, I heard Ron quip, "Can I have a look at Uranus too, Lavender?" I snorted and Professor Trelawney glared us down. We got a lot more homework, too because of our sarcastic quips.

I was walking down the stairs with Harry and Ron when the twins popped out of nowhere and looped their arms through mine.

"Oh Nora, how are you liking your classes?" George said sweetly. I narrowed my eyes.

"What potion do you need me to make now?" Fred gasped.

"Why, whatever makes you think we need you to make us something?" He put his free hand on his chest and looked abashed. I raised an eyebrow and looked back and forth at them.

"Fine." George consented. "We need you to help up iron out our Fever Fudge recipe. We can't get it to be a temperature that isn't near-fatal. We've also backed off on the ton-tongue taffies' recipe so that people won't suffocate on their own over-grown tongues, alright? You're spoiling all of our fun by making our jokes safe." Fred and George stuck their tongues out like that was bad thing to say.

"I'll meet you up in the seventh floor bathroom, alright?"

"We knew you'd help us." The twins kissed my head and I blushed a little. We walked into the Great Hall. Andi soared in with a tawny owl. Andi had a package and the owl dropped a letter off. I sat down at the table and opened the letter first. It was from Remus. He told me that he had no more news on how to help me with the pain but he told me that I must not try and pull away from my friends. I needed people to be with me and help me through it. I folded the letter and put it in one of my text books. I opened the parcel and inside was a pair of violet high top sneakers with silver laces. The letter was signed with a paw print. I immediately kicked off my black combat boots I slipped them on and admired my feet. I shoved my old shoes into my knapsack and started eating lunch. I heard Malfoy start saying something loud enough we could hear it from across the hall.

"Oy Weasley, look, I was just reading an article in the Prophet about you. There's even a picture of your mum and dad standing outside you house, if you can call it that." The twins bristled and we three turned around to see Malfoy swaggering closer. My hands balled into fists.

"Shut up, Malfoy." Harry warned.

"Your mum could do with losing a bit of weight, huh?" Malfoy held up the paper. I stood up, the twins on either side of me.

"Sod off, at least my mother doesn't look like she has dung under her nose." Ron spat.

"Does she always look like that, Draco, or was it because you were there?" I grinned at Harry's barb. He could be sassy when the moment presented itself. Malfoy was speechless. I sipped some of my pumpkin juice. Harry and Ron turned back around. I was about to do the same when Malfoy drew his wand and tried to hex Harry. My wand was in my hand and I was three paces from Malfoy when he turned into a white ferret. I looked around and saw Moody limp down the steps.

"OH NO YOU DON'T LADDIE!" He still had his wand raised. "You never hex someone with their back turned!" He started levitating the ferret and making it do flips in the air. I was holding my side I was laughing so hard. The twins were snickering behind me. Crabbe was laughing until Moody put Malfoy the ferret down his pants. I had to sit down because I wasn't breathing I was laughing so hard. McGonagall came rushing in.

"Professor Moody! What are you doing?!" She shrieked as she came closer.

"Teaching!" He said roughly, still flipping the ferret around. I was snorting and crying all at the same time.

"Is that… is that a student?"

"Technically, it's a ferret." I wiped the tears from my eyes and tried to keep my laughter inside but it only came out loudly and I got a glare from the Head of Gryffindor. I covered my mouth but I still was laughing. Malfoy wouldn't know what hit him when he was transformed back. I tried to restrain myself. I had to be escorted away by the twins or face consequences because I couldn't stop laughing.

I knew the twins had done something when I couldn't stop laughing even when we were gone. I suffered through my laughter to spit out "What the hell did you do to me?"

"Well, we were adapting this new idea and we thought what better way to try it out was on someone else…" I glared at them but kept laughing. "It's a laughing potion because everyone needs a laugh, right?" I cuffed them both on the back of the head and they looked at each other.

"Best give her the antidote…" George relented when the bells rang for class. Fred pulled a little vial out of his robes and held out a dropper full of orange liquid. I gave them a wary look.

"It's the antidote, we promised never to try anything out on people that we couldn't undo quickly, right?" I nodded and stuck my tongue out. I felt two drops of sweet caramel spread across my tongue and I stopped laughing.

"Next time, warn me, you bloody pumpkin heads." I hurried off to class.

* * *

The next day was my first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson with Moody.

I sat in the back with Seamus and Dean. I knew this wasn't the same man I had met at the Ministry. I just didn't know who he could be. It was obvious he had a potion in his flask, probably Poly Juice by the increments of which he was sloshing it down with a grimace. I wasn't writing anything down for notes. I'd read the book a few summers ago. He was talking about the three unforgivable curses. I clenched my jaw and looked at Neville. He was growing paler by the moment. Moody called on Ron and he told him the Imperious curse was one of them.

I knew that it had been what the Death Eaters had blamed for doing Tom Riddle's bidding. They were truly cowards. The man masquerading as Moody enlarged a hideous spider creature and made it do whatever he said. I set my mouth in a hard line. After he had had his fun and told us the scope of the spell's effects, he looked around for the next one. No one wanted to say it even though we knew all three. He called out Neville and I bristled.

"There's the… Cruciatus curse." Moody put the spider on the table and muttered the curse. It screamed in pain and convulsed. I stood up, knocking over my ink and quill.

"Stop it! Can't you see how he's suffering? Stop!" I yelled. Moody stopped and glared me down.

"Oh, Black. I've heard a lot about you." That made my hypothesis correct that this wasn't the right man. "Causing your fair bit of trouble in and out of school, they say." He licked his lips and walked over to me carrying the spider. He sat it on my desk.

"I'm not going to tell you the last curse, you know, I'm sure someone else will tell you or you'll just tell us anyway. Please, by the way, kill it in front of us very dramatically." I crossed my arms. He yelled _Avada Kedavra _and the blast of green light ended the life of the spider. Everyone was silent. I kept my eyes locked on Moody.

"There's only one person to have survived this curse, and he's sitting in this room." Everyone looked at Harry. I rubbed the small scar on my shoulder and scoffed quietly. I didn't tell a lot of people about my many brushes with death. Especially not my first one where my mother died. I didn't listen to him the rest of the class. When he told us that we were going to try and beat the Imperious curse, I stood at the back of the group and watched Harry do it. He was actually doing really well. I applauded him when he succeeded in resisting.

Harry and I walked out of the lesson. I thought Neville had been right behind me but I looked back to say something and he was staring out the window, tears in his eyes. I ran up to him.

"Neville," I brushed his hair out of his face. "It's okay, shh, he's a tosser, making you watch that." He pressed his face into my shoulder and I hugged him.

"Longbottom!" We both looked up at Moody who was limping down to us. I stepped in front of my friend a little.

"What do you want?" It came out with a slight snarl.

"Stand down, Black, no need to be a guard dog, I'm just going to have a nice cup of tea with the boy to settle his nerves." I narrowed my eyes.

"It's alright, Nora." Neville said with his soft accent. I nodded.

"Alright, I'll meet you in Divination, right?" He nodded and I watched Neville and Moody climb back up to his room.

Something was very wrong. He'd said Moody's famous tagline, 'constant vigilance' but anyone who'd ever spent any time at all with him would know that so it didn't narrow down the suspect pool. I started walking down the corridor to the seventh floor bathroom the twins and I used as a joke shop. I was lost in thought when I heard giggling. I saw Angelina and a flash of red hair. The twins were laughing and walking with her. They'd just given Filch some boil bon bons. I stopped. Andi flew in one of the windows and onto my shoulder. I watched my friends walk away from me, my usual space between them taken by a girl much more suited to be there. I gritted my teeth and went to the bathroom anyway. I was an investor in this company, too. I banged around the cauldrons I needed and started going through my ingredients I'd been picking up here and there over the summer. Andi nuzzled my face and I looked away. I pulled out my notebook with the secret recipes for the jokes and trick sweets out to work on the amounts.

"You're jealous." George smirked from the doorway. Fred was probably off snogging Angelina.

"What?" I said, disinterested.

"You are _so_ jealous." He laughed and came to help me.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Lying is very unbecoming of ladies, Nora." George handed me the mortar and pestle. "If you like Fred, you should really tell him. He's my twin and I love him but he's bloody awful when it comes to girls." I scoffed.

"I'm no lady and I'm not lying. Why would I be jealous?" I grinded the black forest thistle a little too viciously to not prove George's point. I looked up at him.

It was weird that the twins could look exactly the same and act fairly similar but could still be so different. George was the quieter of the two, if there was such a thing. Fred was more of a showman and George was more of a behind the scenes kind of guy.

"It's okay to admit your feelings, Nora." I put the mortar and pestle down with a thud.

"Why should I be jealous? Who even said I _liked _Freddie like that? We're in business together. You two are basically my brothers. Romance is just silly." George gave me a look. I groaned. "Come off it, he likes Angelina anyway, she _is _in your grade so she has that going for him. She can ride a broom, too." I looked back at my book and shook my head. "Yeah, there's nothing between us."

"If you say so. There's going to come a time when you and Fred can't ignore it anymore and then I'm going to tell you I told you so." He started stirring the mixture and I sat up on the counter. I looked at my shoes.

"Do you think I'm pretty?" I said. Andi was drinking some of the water dripping out of a faucet. George looked up, shocked.

"What?"

"Do you think I'm pretty? Like Cho Chang or Penelope Clearwater?" I touched the scars on my cheek and looked in the mirror. They hadn't faded at all.

"What brought this up?" George kept stirring but he was looking at me. I shook my head.

"Nevermind, it was a stupid question."

"Did someone say something?" I shook my head.

"Drop it, it doesn't matter." I tightened my sneaker's laces and straightened my skirt. I looked up at the mirror once more before returning to my work. George kept glancing over at me while I was forming the fever fudge blocks. Fred came in smiling when George and I were putting together some Skiving Snack Boxes. I had my music playing some soft folk songs.

"See you two are working through lunch." He leaned next to me and looked through the box I was filling. "Got the recipe right for the fever fudge, I suspect?" I nodded. George was watching our exchange and gave me a look like 'tell him _now_.' I looked down and tied the box closed. Fred levitated it to the pile of other boxes.

"I think I'm going to go get something to eat before I have to go take another nap in Divination." Fred got up.

"I'll walk you down." He got to the door. "You coming, Georgie or are you going to be working on that special project?" He winked at him and George winked back.

"I'll let you two go on without me. See you at dinner." Fred walked me to the Great Hall the long way. He was talking about how mad he was that Quidditch had been cancelled this year. He told me about his classes. He liked Moody even if he was batty." I nodded and shoved my hands deep in the pockets of my robes. I felt so young and awkward next to him. Even if he wasn't tall and lanky like Percy and Ron, he was still tall and strong. I caught myself admiring the curve of his jaw and the spark in his eyes when he was talking about another gag he'd been thinking up. I sighed and turned my eyes away.

I was too young for him anyway.

We got to the quickly empting great hall and made roast beef sandwiches. I packed one up and gave it to Fred. "I know you two are brewing a bloody aging potion, it won't work." I took a rather large bite out of my sandwich and Fred tried to tell me how it was absolutely going to work out and I shook my head.

"Nora, it's an impartial judge, it's not going to know how old George and I am! And it's a binding contract so if we get chosen we have to participate." I sighed. Fred had a little spot of gravy on his cheek. I went on my tip toes and wiped it off. My thumb hesitated before I pulled it away and we turned away from looking at each other and kept walking. Fred stopped on the seventh floor bathroom.

"See you later, Freddie." I said. He waved and I slipped into a hidden passage to get to class on time.

I doodled my way through Divination. We were still talking about planets aligning. Gisborne was more into this than I was. Maybe that's what I would do after class. I had a free period anyway. Professor Trelawney was hovering over my desk.

"Renora-"

"Just Nora." She sighed.

"Nora, why do you feel the need to not pay attention to the art of Divination?"

"Because I find it hard to believe that everyone in the classroom has the sight and that we're all able to gaze into your crystal balls and see misfortunes befall us. Let's be honest, all you ever care about is the bad stuff like someone's pet dying or Harry getting killed." I crossed my arms. She took off her glasses and polished them.

"I see. I want you to pay attention from now on, and that is that." She drifted away speaking in her same moony voice. I felt something bump into the back of my head. I saw a note folded like a paper airplane. I'd seen something similar to this at the Ministry in the elevators and zooming around. I unfolded it. It was a note from Thatch asking if I was going to do anything this afternoon and telling me he'd bring my record player if I did. I scrawled a quick reply to tell him to meet me in the usual spot and bring some tea. I gave the refolded paper plane a little push with a breath. It flew in a loop around the Professor's head and she was confused as she batted at it. Other people snickered and it flew out a crack in the window. The bells reverberated in the room and I shot down the ladder and into a passage that let out by the greenhouses.

I put on my Walkman while I waited for Thatcher by the covered bridge. A song I couldn't help but dance to played and I started dancing like a fool. Shaking my arms around and twisting on the balls of my feet, I didn't think anyone was going to be down this direction. It was close to the Dark Forest and Hagrid's hut was on the other side so his class wouldn't be over here. I was wrong. I had just shaken my booty in a full circle when I jumped back. Thatch was leaning against the opening of the bridge with my record player and records tucked under his arm. I put my earphones around my neck. I blushed even though I knew I wasn't supposed to be embarrassed.

"We're going to see G, right?" I nodded and took my records. We took off to the Black Lake. Andi soared over the woods on the last few warm drafts. Our guests from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang would be arriving tomorrow and then my birthday would be the day after. Except it wasn't _really_ my birthday. My real birthday was February 15. I kept my birthday a secret because I wanted to celebrate it on Halloween.

We hiked up to the top of the cliff and I conjured a blanket. I set up my record player and let Thatch pick the music. He picked some super old Credence Clearwater Revivial-esque tune and I soaked up the little bit of sun peeking through the clouds. I heard the slow _clump clump_ of hooves. I turned and smiled at Gisborne. He was more mature looking now as he kneeled in front of me.

"Nora." I curtsied.

"Hello sir, fancy meeting you here." He grinned and looked at Thatch who nodded.

"I hear there's excitement up at the castle." I nodded.

"Oh yes, a big tournament, the other school's top prospects are coming tomorrow." I stroked his long hair and worked out some of the tangles gently.

"Beauxbatons and Durmstrang," Thatch was looking through my records and I leaned on Gisborne's chest. He put his arms around me and rested his chin on the top of my head.

"Has Nora told the Weasley twin that she's in love with him yet?" I rolled my eyes.

"No, not yet, he's trying to act very nonchalantly about it though. He's even trying to make her jealous now!" Thatch continued on, annoying me by acting like I wasn't there.

"Really? The tables really must have turned!"

"I know, right? He's trying to make her jealous by having a girl who's obviously much more in love with the other one take her seat when we eat and when they walk to classes…" Thatch drifted off.

"Stop it." I said. "He's not trying to make me jealous. Angelina's his age. I knew that someday _both_ of the twins would have a girlfriend. I'm not jealous." Both of the guys looked at me.

"Lying's a sin, Nora." Gisborne chided. I scoffed.

"Whatever, I can prove to you that I'm not jealous, we're going to play Truth or Dare tonight in the common room. You're coming, Thatcher. You'll see."


	18. Goblet of Fire Part 5

That night when I was sitting in the common room with Thatcher, the twins, Angelina, Katie Bell, Neville, and the golden trio of Hermione, Ron, and Harry. I stood up and clapped my hands together. "Let's play a game." I put a finger on my chin. "Let's play 'truth or dare'." The others kind of shrugged and we all got in a circle.

"I'll go first," Thatch volunteered. I glared at him. "Fred, I dare you to kiss the prettiest girl in the room, notice I said _girl_ and not _person_ because face it, I'd smoke all of you." I rolled my eyes, this was unabashedly based on _The Perks of Being a Wallflower_. I wasn't sitting next to Fred so I just fiddled with a string on my skirt. There wasn't any movement so I looked up. Fred and Angelina had locked lips and were really going at it. I could have left, probably should have, but I felt like I was watching a train crash. They kept snogging and finally I couldn't take it anymore, I got up and walked out of the common room. I slipped into a hidden passage before whoever came running out of the portrait hole behind me.

I kept climbing the secret passages until I found the Room of Requirement. This time it was filled to the gills with lost things. I could get lost in here, too. I wouldn't exactly mind that right now. I felt a familiar pain start in my ribcage and whimpered. Tonight was a full moon. Even though I couldn't see it, I could feel it. I found a dusty couch and collapsed on it. I held myself and cried. My body felt like my bones were trying to pop into some new shape. I clamped my eyes shut and tried to find a place in my mind the pain couldn't reach.

I lost track of time but I opened my eyes when Thatcher was brushing my hair off my clammy forehead. He sat down and pulled me onto his lap. "I forgot about the moon tonight." I said quietly with a breathless laugh. My back arched and I bit my lip to keep from crying. "'Truth and dare' was a terrible…choice." He nodded.

"I shouldn't have tried to be Patrick from _Perks_." I nodded. I'd visited him one day last summer and we had watched it together at his house. "George and I were both surprised." I clenched my jaw and he pulled me closer. "Didn't know he had it in him." I looked up at him. His stormy grey eyes looked morose and I pressed my face into his sweater. He smoothed my hair down. "I'm sorry I did that to you, Barkers."

"Ok," was all I could say out before I had to shudder. I actually felt one of my shoulders pop out of place and back in. Tears were rushing freely down my face now. This night couldn't end soon enough.

When the sun started to rise I felt better, not _good_ mind you, but better. I was exhausted and Thatch had helped me get back to the common room after everyone else had gone to classes. I didn't even make it to the Dormitory. I collapsed on a couch in front of the fire and went to sleep.

Too soon, I heard people coming in to drop their bags and books off to welcome the other schools' students. I didn't get up. I just pulled my blanket tighter around me and pressed my face into the throw pillow.

"Nora." Fred said softly.

"Sod off." I mumbled. He sat down and I flipped over to look at him. Thatch had said that last night had been the worst he'd seen. I bore the marks, too, I had deep purple circles around my eyes and I was pale. I blinked and saw the true pain on Freddie's face for not being there for me. "Go watch the prisses and the meatheads come in, it's supposed to be quite the show." I went to go back to sleep.

"I'm sorry but Dumbledore stopped George and I and told us that he knows what a rough night you had but you still have to be there for the ceremony tonight." I rubbed my eyes.

"Fine." I slowly got up. I felt like I had run a marathon. Fred offered me a piggy back ride and I declined. The twins each laced their arms in mine and we walked to the lawn to see the other schools come in. I leaned heavily on George while we waited. Thatch came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me to support my weight.

"Why are you out here?" He muttered.

"Dumbledore's orders." I said snarkily.

"I see." I closed my eyes.

"Black! Wake up! The other students will be here soon! This is no time to sleep!" McGonagall clapped her hands sharply. I opened my eyes and she regretted her decision to wake me when I glared at her.

She moved on and George was talking to Fred but I couldn't hear what was being said because of the din of the crowd. Thatch was still standing behind me. I stood up and stretched. I pulled out a chocolate bar and bit off a big chunk. Andi soared over with a big ornate butterfly clip in her feathers. She looked rather proud of herself for having such a decoration so I left it. She nuzzled my cheek in appreciation.

Something was flying over the Forbidden Forest. It was a massive carriage the size of a house. It landed with a thud and the horses were absolutely huge. Hagrid would have fun taking care of those. Probably go out and want one of those, too. Beautiful girls and boys poured out of the carriage followed by a woman as big, maybe even a little bigger than, Hagrid.

"That's one big woman." Fred and George's heads were on swivels as they watched the Beauxbatons girls sashay past. I jibbed them in the ribs. The carriage was cleared away.

Dean Thomas yelled, "The Lake!" Everyone looked and there was a pole rising from the lake and it took the form of a mast. A boat bobbed up and we all watched as boys in fur cloaks marched off the ship.

"Why would they submerge their boat when they could just sail…" I mumbled. Thatch nodded but the twins were both craning their necks to see someone.

"There he is!" A girl squealed.

"Viktor Krum." I could hear the girls swooning. "Does anyone have a quill?" I closed my eyes and ate some more chocolate. We were all ushered into the Great Hall. I sat between the twins and was propped on my hands. Fred kept acting like he was going to say something but kept stopping himself. I watched the visiting students enter with much fanfair. Hogwarts stood up and we all sang the school song. I swept my messy hair up into a knot on the top of my head because it was just too wild to deal with right now. Andi was taking little sips out of the Bouillabaisse. I picked at my pudding and sighed. Fred nudged me.

"C'mon Nora, you have to eat something other than chocolate after a full moon, Remus told you that." I put a fork full in my mouth but all I wanted was a nice rare steak. I laughed a little at the thought. I'd never been a big meat eater until Remus accidently slashed me when he was a werewolf earlier this year. I pushed my plate away and dug around in my backpack for another chocolate bar that Remus had sent me. I peeled back the foil and snapped off a corner with my teeth. Fred and George were staring at me. I chewed the mouthful of chocolate and grinned. Chocolate covering my teeth, I put on a silly accent.

"Am I beautiful yet?" I hunched my shoulders and made my eyes wide. I laughed and the twins did too. I went to take a drink of water to wash the chocolate away when someone said something behind me.

"You are a fan?" I snapped around at the thick accent. Viktor Krum was standing in front of me. My eyes got wide. Bloody Hell. He was stout and duck footed and not entirely unattractive. I smiled. He got a weird look on his face and I covered my mouth and wiped the chocolate off with my tongue. I realized my miniature Krum and Troy had climbed out of my back pack and had brought their little Firebolts with them. I picked them up and they got on my shoulders, squabbling. I nodded.

"Uh, yeah, I guess." My face was getting hot. Krum smiled at me and watched the two miniature Seekers kick off and fly around the hall. A few kids pointed. I whistled and they went into the formations I'd taught them, they'd fly in spirals and then pull up inches from the ground. I whistled again and the two figures landed on my hands. They bowed. Troy and Krum were both pushing each other out of the way for my affection. I kissed them both on the top of the head and they jumped back into my bag.

"You are very talented to be able to do that." I shrugged. Krum picked up my hand and kissed it, the girls in the general vicinity swooned. "What is your name?"

"R-Renora." I stuttered. He smiled and sat my hand down on my lap.

"I am looking forward to getting to learn more about you, R-Renora."

"You can call me Nora." He smiled and nodded.

"Attention!" Dumbledore boomed. We all jumped. I saw that Ludo Bagman was here with Barty Crouch. I frowned. I had a sinking suspicion that those two were here to talk to me. I took another bite of chocolate. Fred's hand snaked around and took it out of my hand. He replaced it with a sandwich. I took a bite as the rest of the food disappeared from the plates.

"Students, now that we have all gotten settled, I'd like to introduce Mr. Bartimus Crouch of the Department of International Magical Cooperation," polite applause, "And Mr. Ludo Bagman," the hall went wild. I was clapping with as much excitement as I could muster. We all listened to Dumbledore and Crouch talk about the Tournament. I got up with the rest of the students at the end of the speech but I looked back and saw Dumbledore waving me forward. The twins paused and George pulled Fred along. I knew they'd wait for me in the common room. I walked along the bench to the front of the room. I walked up to the Headmaster and the ministry men. I shook Ludo's hand warmly.

"Pleasure to see you again, Nora." Crouch looked at me suspiciously.

"Mr. Crouch."

"Black." Dumbledore jumped in to cut the tension.

"Mr. Bagman, I believe you have some news for Nora?" He nodded and escorted me away.

"Nora, after the… events at the World Cup, the ministry wants to keep a closer eye on you by having you help set up the tasks and organize the Yule Ball so that you'll stay out of trouble." I laughed.

"So they want to keep me out of trouble… by putting me in the middle of the most important wizarding competition?" Ludo smirked.

"I didn't make the rules, Crouch did."

"Terrible idea, really." I rubbed my neck. I had a knot in my spine or so it felt like. "When do I start?" I heard the Goblet of Fire softly snap behind me.

"I'll be sending you confidential letters. You mustn't share any information about the tasks." I nodded.

"Pretty good at keeping secrets." Ludo smiled.

"We're taking extra precautions this year to ensure everyone's safety." I nodded.

"Glad to see the Ministry actually cares about the wellbeing of wizards and witches sometimes. How are the muggles from the campground doing?" Ludo's grin vanished.

"They're still being slowly returned to normal." I frowned.

"Ludo, there will be plenty of time to inform Nora of the specifics when the time comes." Dumbledore told me to pop off to bed.

I trudged through the hallways to the common room. The Fat Lady didn't even ask for the password. I was doing good to stay on my feet.

The twins whisked me to a couch in an alcove of the common room away from prying eyes. I yawned and they pumped me for information.

"I'm going to be the Ministry's lacky this year and maybe they'll get off my back about being such a rebel." I said this with a sleepy tone. I winced when I touched my neck again. I rolled my neck and that helped a little.

Fred's hands were on my shoulders, kneading. I was going to tell him to stop but it felt too good. I sighed and closed my eyes. George got up and walked away.

"I'm sorry." He said quietly so other people couldn't hear us.

"For what?" I was twisted the end of my sleeve nervously.

"You know why." I nodded. "I just didn't think you'd want me to kiss you." His hands stopped and rested on my shoulders. I chewed my lip.

"I think that if you did, it would make some things easier, and some things even more complicated…" I kept twisting my sleeve.

"That's what I was thinking." I didn't quite believe him. I stood up.

"I should go to bed." I hurried up the steps without looking at him. Andi was already laying on my bed fast asleep. I pulled out the letter Fred had written me last year and the glasses I needed to see the ink. Threading the glasses through my fingers, I debated whether or not to read it. I put it back in my bag and got ready for bed. I didn't need to worry about boys. I hoped that this year wouldn't get any worse. I had the QuadWizard tournament to be tormented by now.

The next day I sat down in the entry hall to watch all the people seventeen years old and older put their names in the cup. I was feeling better but still had gotten my chocolate bar back from Fred to help me along.

Fred, George, and Lee all came yelling down the steps. I rolled my eyes. I mouthed the word 'aging potion' as they yelled it. I leaned back onto the wall and smirked. Fred looked over at me and I gave him a thumbs up. He stepped in, when he wasn't immediately tossed out, George jumped in too. They threw their papers in and cheered. The twins were then shot-putted out of the age ring and slid to my feet. I tripped over them and heard a popping noise. They had both grown long white beards to rival Dumbledore. I burst out laughing, holding my ribcage. Everyone around us laughed hysterically. I sat up and stroked Fred's beard. His eyes had that stupid sparkle in them when he was laughing.

"Looks mighty fine, maybe you should leave it." He flipped the beard over his shoulder.

"I just might." Dumbledore joined in the laughing as he walked over.

"I believe that you two should head up to Madame Pomfrey to get straightened out. She seems to already have quite a few other students who tried to use different means to get their names into the Goblet… although their beards were not as nearly as fine as yours."

I walked with the twins up to the medical wing but before they got their beards removed I had someone take a picture of the three of us. I wanted to remember this moment. I sat on the bed between the two boys and Madame Pomfrey hustled over and scolded them. I just looked rather smug at both of them and they just kept feeling their beards. I giggled. Fred leaned over and tickled my face with his snowy beard.

"Stop!" I laughed. I started braiding it. He watched me run my fingers through it and twist it into a plait. It felt like old times.

When the twins had their beards removed and were given a thorough tongue lashing, we walked back down to eat breakfast. I mixed together my usual oatmeal, egg, and bacon in a bowl and sat next to George as we worked on an order form. Angelina came in, she was smiling. She walked up to Fred and George.

"Well, I did it!" She was excited. I kept a blank face until George pushed me farther down so that Angelina could sit between the twins. Neville looked at me and shrugged. He went back to reading _Magical Waterplants of the Highland Lochs. _A large grey owl dropped a thick envelope and then another owl dropped a little box and both flew off together. The envelope was written in a scrawl I didn't recognize. I tucked the box into my pocket and walked out of the Great Hall. No one even noticed except Neville. He came running after me while I was walking out the front of the school to go to Hagrid's.

"Nora!" He yelled. I turned and he almost ran into me.

"What's wrong?" I asked as I broke the wax seal on the letter.

"Nothing, you just seemed upset and thought you'd want to talk about it." I looked at him and shook my head.

"Thanks, Nev, but I'm alright. Go back to breakfast."

"No! You need to stop pushing people away when you get cross with the twins, a-alright?" He said with more resolve in his voice then I'd ever heard before. His stutter didn't take away from that at all. He looked surprised that he had even said it.

"Okay, you're right. Come on then, we're walking down to Hagrid's." I unfolded the pack of paper.

"Who's the letter from, Nora?" Neville hurried to keep up my pace. I was used to walking with the twins whose legs were a foot longer than mine. I was by no means short. I'd grown over the summer and now the boys were only a head and a half taller than me.

I flipped to the last page and sighed.

"Ludo Bagman, this is sensitive information that I can't share." I sighed. "I'll read it later." I put the letter away and pulled out the box. I untied the ribbon and opened it. I sat down heavily. Neville said something to me but I didn't hear him.

Inside the box was a vial with a silvery mist floating around. I looked at the note that said,

_I hope this explains enough for right now, Nora. I _

_ would never hurt you but there's more to the story_

_ than you know. _

_ Sawyer_

Neville put his hand on my shoulder and I jumped.

"What is that?" I stood up.

"I-I, I need to go see Dumbledore." I ran off and slipped into a hidden passage to get to the Headmaster's office faster.

"Nora, I didn't expect to see you, what's the matter, child." It was plain to see on my face that something was very wrong. I held up the vial.

"I need to use the pensieve." He nodded and it floated out to meet me. I wiped my tears away before pouring the memory into the dish. It mixed with the water and I pressed my face to the surface.

_Sawyer was running through Diagon Alley. There had been an explosion and he just _knew. _He came up and his father was being clutched by masked Death Eaters. _

_ "Let him go!" Sawyer yells. The Death Eaters turn and Sawyer's father gasps and holds his chest. "He's having a heart attack!" Sawyer pulls out his wand and tried to stun the Death Eaters who brushed them away like gnats. _

_ "If you won't come be a part of the Dark Lord's plans__…__ maybe your son will take your place.__"__ The fear in the father__'__s eyes was heartbreaking. He shook his head and grimaced as he clawed at his chest. The father collapsed and Sawyer kneeled down, crying and screaming. He dropped his wand and held his father as the lights left his eyes. His mother was drug out of the shop. _

_ "Join us or we will kill your mother." One murmured. _

_ "The Dark Lord will be pleased that you are so young." _

_ "You will be of immense help to us." Sawyer looked at his mother who was sobbing silently. _

_ "Help me, Sawyer." She whispered. _

_ After a moment of hard contemplation Sawyer stood up and lay his father gently down, closing his eyes. _

_ "I'll join you, only if you send my mother away from here and erase her memories." _

_ "You made the right choice." One of the Death Eaters clapped Sawyer on the shoulder. _

The memory faded out and I used my wand to siphon it back into the vial.

"Is everything alright, dear? You look faint." Dumbledore stepped towards me.


	19. Goblet of Fire Part 6

I was eating chocolate sitting in a window overlooking the grounds. My feet kicked the side of the wall softly as I tried to process the information I'd just seen. It was the worst birthday present I had ever received. I gazed out at the rolling hills and the glass smooth lake. I leaned my head against the wall and sighed.

"Nora!" Someone yelled. I jolted and dug my fingers into the sides of the window to keep from falling out. Two pairs of strong arms pulled me backwards and onto my butt. I glared at the twins.

"I wasn't going to jump, you idiots. What would possess you to startle someone sitting in an open window?" I clapped them both on the backs of the head. I was turning red. I was very cross with them for frequently putting Angelina in my usual spot between them.

"Bloody Hell! We just came to bring you your birthday gifts, see we're not welcome. C'mon Freddie, let's open these ourselves." I grabbed their arms.

"Stop it." I saw they had put the presents on the ground and I sat down.

"This one is from Harry." It was a miniature pewter cauldron with a magnetic lid full of floo powder since the last bit I had was now coating the bottom of my backpack.

"Ron and Hermione's." It was a set of miniature Muggle literary classics, Hermione had written a note about her favorites and how she knew I would enjoy them.

"Sirius sent these, I think." Fred held the stack of beat up looking boxes. One had a slightly dented dusky purple cake with sugar violets covering it. The next had a pair of beautiful silver evening gloves. I rubbed the silk against my face and smiled. The last box held an assortment of hair pins, combs, and diadems that I surely would have no use for. The twins were a ball of anxious energy as I looked through the jewelry.

"This is from us." They thrust a bright orange box with an all too familiar green 'W' on it.

"You gave me a Skiving Snack box? You know I just skip class right?" They rolled their eyes.

"Really, Nora, you expect that pathetic of a gift from us?"

"We're wounded, really." I untied the string and opened the box. My mouth dropped. Inside was a charm bracelet to surpass the one Charlie had given me. I picked it up gently and looked at all of the little mementos of our friendship. There was a tiny firework that shot sparks. A little cauldron that bubbled and was stirred with a glass probe. A little Irish Wolf pup yawned from one link while a miniature Andi tried to nibble on a chocolate bar charm. There were several other charms too, all of them had to do with us. I knocked the twins back onto the floor with my hug. I hugged George first who wished me a happy birthday. I didn't hesitate before hugging Freddie. He squeezed me tight and told me that he was glad I liked my gift. He clasped it together on my wrist and I admired it. I paused when I saw the little piano charm start to play a song Sawyer and I had done in the Leaky Cauldron last summer. I frowned and couldn't get the thought of him out of my mind as we went down to the feast.

I was sitting with the twins at dinner. After knowing now what happened to Sawyer, I didn't want to touch my food. The boys were too busy arguing over who would be the Hogwarts Champion. They were dead set on Angelina.

Andi curled up beside me and warmed me. I pressed the heels of my hands to my eyes and sighed, leaning on the table. Something rattled my plate and I moved one hand just enough to see my favorite kind of chocolate bar in front of me. I leaned up and took the chocolate. Freddie was already turned back around and I peeled the foil back and snapped a corner off. I gave Andi a piece and then Dumbledore boomed for us to finish eating soon so that the selection process may begin. I turned with the others to watch the selection. After Dumbledore called their names, each of the three Champions would come to the front for a moment and then exit into the antechamber that housed the pictures I had seen with Dumbledore, there were many ways to get to different rooms in the castle and not all of them made sense. The Goblet of Fire turned red and shot out sparks along with a charred piece of parchment. "Viktor Krum!" The Bulgarian looked over at me. I grinned and he winked at me.

Fleur was next. She sashayed up and out of sight. The Hogwarts champion was Ced and I cheered louder than anyone else. I was packing up to go talk to Ludo to see what I needed to do when a fourth piece of parchment flew out.

"Shit." I said loud enough for other people to hear.

"Harry Potter." Dumbledore said softly as he searched the great hall.

Everyone looked at him. I stood up and grabbed his arm. We hurried past the tables of students that were buzzing with conversation like wasps.

"We're going to sort this out, Harry." I took his straight to the waiting room.

"'ave zey 'ent 'ou to have uz come back out?" I shook my head.

"He's the fourth champion." I snapped. Dumbledore came in with Ludo, Crouch, and the other school heads. I locked eyes with Dumbledore who shook his head a fraction of an inch as if to say that he had no idea what was going on here. Karkaroff shot me a look which I didn't expect. I hadn't pissed him off to my knowledge. Ludo waved me over.

"Looks like this isn't going to be a simple tournament anymore. Harry has to compete because of the binding magical contract the Goblet of Fire constitutes."

"Obviously it's been jinxed or something, there has to be something the rules about tampering with the Goblet of Fire, right? People have tried before, right?" Ludo looked uncomfortable.

"I'm sure they have _tried_ but none have ever succeeded."

"Well obviously someone put Harry's name in under a fourth school and there's only ever been three schools involved, right? In the rules there must be something about that?"

"Er… no… not exactly." I rubbed my forehead.

"You're kidding, right?" The other teachers and Crouch had started raising their voices to each other. I looked at Harry who was silent. Snape, McGonagall, and Alistair had joined the fray. "Shut it!" I yelled. I was supposed to have a simple year, no muss, no fuss, but of course someone wanted Harry dead. "Mr. Crouch, I know you don't like me but there has to be some correlation between Harry's name being put into the Goblet of Fire and the Death Eaters and Dark mark at the World cup-"

"We don't need any input from you on the matter, Black!" Crouch snapped. I gritted my teeth.

"I'm afraid that it does seem our young Harry's life is in grave danger." Dumbledore said as he looked at me.

"Like it has been his whole life?" I said under my breath.

"It is not fair for there to be two Hogwarts champions." Karkaroff said.

"It's not like they're going to be a team. The tasks are going to be miserable and life threatening, you two are horrible for worshipping these two like they've won the lottery or something. A thousand galleons is a lot of money, yeah, but you still have to survive to spend it." I put my hands on my hips and looked at the teachers. "Before you get back to bemoaning the fact that Harry's too young, too immature, and the second kid from Hogwarts, think about keeping your own champion alive." Ludo put a hand on my shoulder.

"I believe it's time to retire. Mr. Potter, you will be competing until such time as we figure out what happened." Crouch said curtly.

"I agree, Barty, will you be staying at the castle?" Dumbledore said as the others walked out. Ludo's hand was still on my shoulder.

"No, I have much too much business at the ministry to attend to. I've left Weatherybe in charge. Eager, he is, a little too eager sometimes…" When everyone except Ludo and I were gone, he sighed and sat down heavily in a chair.

"This is going to be an interesting tournament, this is."

"Harry doesn't stand a chance, Mr. Bagman. The other wizards are three years older, and had a lot more training in defensive and protective magic." I looked at some of the pictures.

"Well we'll just have to see then, won't we? I'll be off to my room then. Goodnight, Nora."

"'Night." I said glumly.

I was walking up to the common room when I heard someone talking. I didn't feel like eavesdropping so I just walked into the corridor and held onto my backpack straps and walked quickly ahead. The talking stopped as I passed.

"Black, what are you doing in the hallways at this time of night?" Snape glared at me. I saw Karkaroff shoot me a nasty look.

"I just finished speaking to Mr. Bagman about the tournament, I'm going to bed _now._"

"I do not require any attitude in the answer." I scoffed.

"I gave it free of charge, Professor." I kept on walking up the stairs.

The common room was abuzz with the excitement of having a Gryffindor champion even if people were talking about how Harry got his name in when no one else could. I tried to slip up to my room without talking to anyone but Angelina grabbed my arm and I turned to face her.

"Nora, I just wanted to tell you that I know you and Harry are really close and that he'll do fine in the tournament with you standing with him."

"Thank you." I smiled. "I'll try my best."

I went to my dormitory and Hermione was sitting on the chest at the foot of my bed.

"Nora, did you put Harry's name in the Goblet of Fire?" I flopped down on my bed and covered my eyes.

"No. Funny enough I just thought that this year I'd get a break from someone trying to kill Harry."

"That's what I thought." She sighed, "you should talk to Ron though, I think he's a bit jealous of Harry always being the center of attention." I nodded.

"I guessed as much. I'll try and talk to him tomorrow but right now I want to curl up and sleep for an eternity."

I kicked off my shoes and changed into my pajamas with fluttering owls over them.

I had a dream about Fred, _he was talking to me about the joke shop and I smiled at him, enjoying how excited he was. He stopped and grinned at me. He asked me why I wasn't talking and I told him I was just enjoying looking at him. He brushed a strand of my hair behind my ear. We leaned close to each other on the couch in front of the fire in the common room. My heart was hammering. He slipped his hand into one of mine and rubbed circles on the back of it. We moved even closer until I could feel his breath on my lips._

I jolted up and rubbed my eyes, the dormitory was dark and I fell back onto my pillows and pulled the soft blanket Hagrid had crocheted me for my birthday using some yarn from one of his sweaters I had enchanted to be as soft as cashmere.

Andi crawled back up and snuggled into my side. I stroked her feather which warmed my hand. I touched my lips and sighed. I couldn't even kiss Freddie in my dreams, how would I ever do it in person?

I felt so stupid for feeling the way I did about him. He was sixteen, I was 15, well, technically 14 still, but I had been celebrating my birthday on Halloween too long to not feel a year older. He was sixteen. Angelina was older than him and it was only normal that they would be together. I knew he did like me, but maybe it was just better if he and Angelina went together for at least a little while to see if they liked each other. I was being stupid, of course they would like each other.

I covered my eyes and tried to go back to sleep but all I could see was Fred and Angelina snogging the other night.

* * *

The next morning I got up early and went to talk to Ron. He was staggering to the Great Hall for breakfast looking rather cross. I looped my arm through his and pulled him to the end of the table.

"We need to talk." I told him as I put some bacon between two pieces of buttered toast.

"'bout what?" He said through a mouth full of oatmeal.

"You need to stop being dumb." His ears turned red.

"What the bloody hell do you mean?" He was getting angry.

"Oh shut up. Harry didn't put his name in the goblet and you know that. He needs his friends, you and Hermione are his _best _friends." I took a bite of my sandwich.

"He's _the _Harry Potter though, he's the famous one and I'm just his _dumb_ sidekick." I got up from the table.

"You want to be a prat? Be a prat! You're not stupid. You better make up with Harry or I'll make you regret it." I grabbed my usual oatmeal, eggs, and bacon in a bowl. I stormed away but then had to come back to get a spoon and more toast. I went to yank open the door when the twins came in with Angelina, all laughing. I brushed past them.

"Nora?" George and Fred said in unison. I didn't turn around as I headed to my room.

Andi beat me up to the old music room with the food she'd stolen from breakfast. I enlarged the windows because I wanted more light. I had outfitted this place to my specifications and it was my haven. I leaned back on my big silk pillows and ate my breakfast listening to a Weird Sisters' album on my record player and gazing out at the scenery. The flowers and plants Neville had gotten me over the years undulated with the music. I pulled out my school books and got a head start on this week's lessons. As hard as it is to believe, I am one of the top students when I show up to class. I spend a lot of time reading when I can't sleep which is starting to be more often than not. Remus and I corresponded over this issue but he really couldn't help me with what was really bothering me. I kept seeing the dementors, the vampires, and the Death Eaters terrorizing muggles. I couldn't sleep because at least a little part of me liked the darkness that was part of me now. I sometimes wished I could turn into a full werewolf instead of staying human. Even though I could turn into a dog, I wanted to be truly vicious and evil and attack people and be able to blame it on the change. I was scared for my sanity. I didn't tell Sirius about this. I knew the Black family tree was wrought with nuts maybe I was just another one.

I stirred my breakfast mix together to get rid of that thought. My charms homework seemed easy enough, you just called for stuff and it came to you. "Accio is so much simpler." I said to Andi who was scarfing down a strip of bacon. I waved my wand and my photo album zoomed to me. "See?" I opened it up and put the picture of the bearded twins and I on the first empty space. I ran my fingers over the various pictures I've taken with my friends. This summer I'd even taken a picture with Sirius and Remus where we posed like it was an awkward family portrait. It was one of my favorites. The next page was a picture of Fred showing me a new firework he developed that was a sparkling bouquet. Our faces were illuminated with the little flashes of light and the flowers bloomed in his hand. Both of our faces had wide smiles. I shut the book and leaned back.

I'd take a full moon over feeling the way I was right now when I saw Angelina and Fred together. Why was it so much easier before I started liking Fred this way? I curled up and continued to read my charms book.

In Herbology the next day, the usually cordial Hufflepuffs were cold towards Gryffindors. I was standing by Neville talking to him about what good the little bouncing bulbs did.

"Well you see," he held one tightly between his thumb and first finger. "They can be used to make a rubber cement that coats bludgers to make them more elastic for younger Quidditch players."

"That's cool." I picked one up and chucked it at the opposite end of the green house. It bounced around crazily and I laughed as everyone ducked for cover. It ended up knocking over someone else's tray of bulbs and then it was true chaos. I was laughing too hard to care that Professor Sprout was storming over to me. Neville pulled me up off the ground. We ran out of class laughing.

"Neville?! I don't believe it! You just skipped out of class!" We collapsed on the shore of the Black Lake and laughed.

"You're a horrible influence, Nora." He looked over at me and smiled. I grabbed his hand and we just looked up at the sky and tried to control our laughter. I looked over at him and sighed. I could learn to love Neville, he was a kind and sweet boy, a little forgetful, well really forgetful but he was always concerned about me, even when I didn't talk to him as often as I should. I squeezed his hand and he held mine tighter. We spent the rest of the hour just enjoying the fall day.

When the bell rang for the next class, Neville and I ran down to Hagrid's to take care of the blast-ended skrewts. We had it with Slytherin which was miserable. Hagrid had told me we would be taking the horrible creatures out for a walk to release some of the pent up energy. Neville and I leashed one very wild skrewt and both had to hold on to the harness as it blasted around the hill.

"Let's just let it reign terror in the Dark Forest." I growled as it jerked us.

"At least the others killed each other." Neville yelled. We avoided the explosion from another group's skrewt. I looked back and saw Harry talking to Hagrid with a particularly large creature. They were talking about the Tournament.

At dinner, I drug Neville over to talk to some of the Beauxbatons' girls. He turned scarlet and didn't talk. I had a nice conversation about their school before they flitted off to flirt with some boys for their bouillabaisse. I saw Thatch chatting up a Durmstrang boy. I waved and he smiled. Neville and I walked up to the common room to work on our homework together.

I ignored Fred and Angelina and took Neville to a little alcove with a table to work on a potions essay.

* * *

I wasn't too thrilled about double potions today. The next full moon was coming and that always made me grumpy. For some horrible reason we had to wait in the hall for Snape to show up for our lesson. The Slytherins were wearing buttons that said Cedric was the real Hogwarts Champ and then when they pressed it, it turned to "Potter Stinks" I took a couple of deep soothing breaths and talked to Neville about the skrewts. I didn't need to get worked up over Malfoy. That was until he smarted off about Harry dying in the first task. I stepped closer, my hand tightened around my wand but I didn't pull it out of the pocket in my robes.

"I can handle this, Nora." Harry snarled. He and Malfoy both cast curses and somehow both of them missed and bounced and hit Goyle and Hermione.

"Hermione!" I ran to here and dropped to my knees. She was touching her lips. I pulled her hands away, her already oversized teeth were growing quickly. I glared at Malfoy. Goyle's face looked hideous.

"It's an improvement, Goyle." I spat. Malfoy pointed his wand at me. I stood up and pulled mine out.

"I'd watch my mouth if I was you, Black." I smirked.

"I won't miss, Malfoy." Snape swept through the fray.

After trying to explain what had happened to Snape, who didn't care, I took Hermione's arm and we ran to the hospital wing while Ron and Harry yelled obscenities at Snape after he said he saw no difference in Hermione's appearance even when her teeth were growing past he chin.

She was crying, I rubbed her back and took her through the secret passages to the hospital wing so we wouldn't run into anyone. Madame Pomfrey ushered her to a bed and tsked.

"Malfoy cursed her, is there any way you could punish him?" I asked.

"Professor Snape should…"

"Professor Snape isn't going to do anything about it. He took fifty points from Gryffindor, and gave Harry and Ron detentions."

"I see." She examined Hermione's teeth.

"Miss Black!" Someone called. I turned to see Ludo Bagman waving me out of the hospital wing. I told Hermione that it would be okay and Madame Pomfrey would have her back to normal in a shake and a wink before I walked outside.

"Mr. Bagman." I nodded to him.

"Nora, today is the wand weighing ceremony, your presence is requested." My shoulders drooped.

"Alright, want me to go get Harry?" He nodded. "Where is the ceremony?"

"A classroom on an upper floor, I'm sure you'll find it." I watched him take off. I trudged back down to the dungeons.

"_A classroom on an upper floor_." I mocked. "Bloody descriptive, isn't it?" I grumbled. I banged on the door to the potions classroom and walked in without waiting for an answer.

"Potter is required elsewhere." I said, gesturing to Harry to pack up his stuff.

"I don't know what you're up to, Black, but I can assure you that I'm not letting Potter out of class because you commanded it."

"Ludo Bagman commanded it, there is the wand weighing ceremony he has to attend, seeing as he _is _a quadwizard champion." Everyone gave me a look either in confusion or disgust.

"It's the _tri_wizard tournament, imbecile." Pansy Parkinson sneered. I smiled venomously at him.

"There are _four _champions this time, _tri_ means three, _quad _means four, you twit." I snapped back.

"Black, detention, and ten points from Gryffindor." I shrugged.

"But you have to admit, that name makes m-more sense." Neville said, quietly. I smiled at him.

"Thanks, Nev." Snape scowled.

"Take Potter and leave, you'll both have to practice your antidotes on each other this evening while serving detention."

"Sounds like a date, professor." I said in a tone dripping in sarcasm and with a salute. He glared at me over his sheath of parchment.

Harry awkwardly shoved his supplies into his bag and I grabbed his arm to drag him out of class.

"Why are they weighing my wand?" I looked at Harry with my eyebrow raised.

"What do you think they mean when they say 'wand weighing ceremony'?" I asked before I spat off something mean.

"Are they going to put it on scales or something?" I pursed my lips.

"Not exactly. Remember when we got our wands?"

"Of course."

"Well Mr. Ollivander remembers every wand he's ever made, their wood, core, and weight. He's going to test to see if there is anything the matter with your wand." Bagman had sent me a note explaining all of the formalities the tournament would entail.

"Oh, alright." Harry said softly as I pulled him up the steps. Andi had spotted me and was leading the way to the classroom, no doubt Dumbledore had told her to find us.

I stopped Harry right outside the classroom door. I waved my wand and Harry's hair rustled but didn't smooth down. I frowned. "Your hair is impossible, Harry James Potter." I tried to brush it down but it was still wild. "Stop slouching." His back straightened.

"Nora, why are you doing this?" He muttered.

"Because you're getting pictures taken, I can't have Sirius seeing my brother looking so shabby." I smiled at him. "You've written to him, right? I sent him a quick note this morning."

"Yeah, I've written to him."

"He's going to be around for this ruckus." I said softly as I hugged him.

"I wish he had just stayed away." I squeezed Harry tightly.

"Sometimes the people we love do stupid stuff when they know it'll be better for us." I pushed Harry through the door and we were greeted with a flash of a bulb.

"There they are! The two we've been waiting for!" Bagman clapped us both on our sholders.

I looked at the other three champions. Krum was being agnsty in the corner while Fleur was flipping her hair while she talked to Ced. Ced smiled and gave me a wave. I walked over to Krum while Bagman talked to Harry.

"Hello, Victor." I said.

"'ello, Nora. It is 'ery foolish display to put in the Daily Prophet, no?" I nodded. I saw Rita Skeeter and scowled. She was the one who had practically been keeping a column on my life for the past few months. Spreading lies and rumors about me more than I'd ever seen before. She latched onto Harry's arm and I was at her in three long paces.

"Nice to finally meet you, Rita." I stuck my hand out and she looked at it and then to my eyes. She was afraid. Brilliant. "I've been reading about what I've been doing lately, you know, like staging nonexistent riots and protests, oh, conjuring the dark mark, murdering muggles, and –oh- my personal favorite, rigging the World Cup, that was a good one." It was her turn to scowl at me now.

"Black, everyone knows you're just like your father." She spat.

"What do you know of my father? You just right that dribble for the Prophet and hope no one fact checks you. You remind me of Gilderoy Lockhart." I felt a hand on my shoulder. I took a breath.

"So nice to see you again, Ms. Skeeter, I did enjoy the piece you wrote on me this summer. I believe you called me something along the lines of, 'daft, pathetic, old codger' was it?" She smiled venomously.

"My pleasure." She let go of Harry. "I'll be getting that interview latter, Potter." Dumbledore and I glared at the slimy journalist.

"Nora, look sharp." Bagman waved me over.

"Hello again Mr. Ollivander." I smiled at the old wizard who looked at me with a sad kindness in his eyes. I felt like he knew something very sad about me that I wanted to know.

"Is everyone ready?" He asked. The champions sat in winged back chairs. Fleur was first. Her wand held a vela hair from her grandmother. I smirked, it was a temperamental core, and I applauded her control of it. Mr. Ollivander shot out some flowers, giving Fleur the flowers and her wand. She flitted back to her seat and Ced stood up.

He had polished his wand and I saw Harry self-consciously try and rub off the finger prints off of his. I pulled my wand out and looked at it. I hadn't been particularly careful with it, the gold bands needed a good cleaning.

Ced's wand shot out some smoke rings across the room and was deemed fit for use. Harry's wand shot out some red sparks after he furiously polished it. Fleur gave him a withering look. I stifled a giggle. Krum's was looked over and Ollivander made birds fly out of the end and through the open window. Harry stood up and awkwardly thrust his wand out for inspection. I wasn't close enough to hear Ollivander talk about it. I rolled my wand in my hands and my hair blew back. I heard whispers and blinked. I put my wand away and watched as Ollivander shot out a stream of wine. I stood next to the wise wand maker while the others were getting their pictures taken.

"Could you look over my wand, while you're here?" I held it out. He nodded slowly and took it. He turned it over and creased his already wrinkled forehead. The others were done with their photos when he handed it back to me.

"This wand is very special." He patted my hand and walked away. I heard him mutter something about death is bound to the wand. I rolled my eyes. I hadn't ever killed anyone and wasn't planning on it. I caught up with Harry and put my arm around him. We walked like we were going down the yellow brick road going down the steps. I started singing very loudly and Harry joined in.

"We're off to see the wizard! The wonderful wizard of-" I stopped skipping and Fred was watching me from the doors of the great hall. Harry yanked me down another step before he realized I had stopped.

"Nora, do you remember how to walk?" Harry asked. He looked to where my eyes were fixed. "Oh… come on, I'm hungry. I wanted to go up and see how Hermione's doing before we have to go back to the common room." I started walking slowly down the steps. Fred wasn't leaving. When we got to the door, Fred touched my shoulder.

"Hey, can we talk? You've been avoiding me lately." Harry gave me a 'do it Nora, or else' look and I scowled at him.

"Um, yeah, you want to walk or something?" He nodded. I stuffed my hands in my robe pockets and we walked outside.

"I…uh…" He ran his hands through his hair angrily. "I don't know what I wanted to say. I had like six really big long speeches ready in my head and then I saw you and –whoosh-" he gestured with a hand like something flew off his head, "Out they went." I cracked a little grin.

I looked over at him and his ears were turning red.

"Why have you been avoiding me?" He said when we reached the greenhouses.

"I just didn't want to see you Angelina snogging all the time. Bloody well sick of it, really." He chewed his lip thoughtfully.

"Really?" I nodded and ran my hand against the soft moss growing on the bricks of the greenhouse. I ducked inside. This was the one Thatch and I came to sit in most of the time because it was the warmest and filled with every type of tropical flower you could imagine.

"Yes really, why would I lie about that?"

"I dunno." I touched a beautiful iridescent hibiscus that shimmered at my fingertips.

"I guess I've also just been… busy." I twisted the twins' charm bracelet around my wrist.

Fred wrapped his arms around me and hugged me. I closed my eyes. It had been so long since we did this. "Stop acting so cross with me. I can't handle it. The joke business wouldn't be growing nearly as fast without you, either. We've hit a snag with a couple of the more complex potions and we could really use your help." I raised an eye brow at him. "Not that the only reason I talked to you was because of that! Don't get me wrong, me and George both miss you!" I sighed.

"Are you done spilling your secrets, Freddie? I'd like to go eat dinner," he ruffled my hair as we walked out of the green house. My cheeks were flushed.

"So I heard you drug Neville into your troublemaking the other day in Herbology." I nodded.

"How was I supposed to know that the one bouncing bulb would create a domino effect?" We both laughed and walked into the great hall.

I kept smiling, _Stop acting so cross with me. I can't handle it._ Freddie obviously had feelings for me, right?


	20. Goblet of Fire Part 7

After dinner, Fred, George, and Lee and I all went to the seventh floor bathroom. Lee was talking about some Beauxbatons girl.

"I'm telling you mates, she's got the body of a goddess. And her hair… and her face… the way she says, 'zordan, why are you followzing me?'" I choked on my laughter and turned down the heat on my potion.

"That's true love, Lee, when a women notices you are stalking her." The twins nodded.

"You're being too coy," Fred said, tying the strings on some Skiving Snack Boxes. "You just have to grab her and kiss her." George dropped the glass stirring rod he was handing to me. We all just looked at him. "What!" I shook my head and went back to work.

"If it sooooo easy," Lee drawled as he swaggered to Fred. "Then kiss Nora." I went rigid. I didn't look at anyone but I felt my ears get hot as they all stared at me. I turned around.

"You know, if you wanted to kiss me, Lee, you just had to ask." I didn't convince even myself that I was trying to be cool. My voice shook too much for that.

"Fine," Fred stood up and sauntered over to me. "Are you watching, Lee? I'm going to show you how to woo a lady." Fred turned us so that Lee could see both of us. My heart was hammering too much and my cheeks were red. Fred put his hands on either side of my face and I was frozen. "It'll be okay, Renora, just relax." My vision was swimming. Fred leaned in, tilting his head. Luckily, right before our lips would have met, Andi swooped in and Fred sighed with his eyes closed and pulled away. I could finally breathe again. I took the letter she was thrusting into my face. I ripped it open and brushed some chocolate off of my Phoenix's feathers. She looked rather pleased with herself for how much chocolate she had gotten from Ludo. The note said that I would be traveling to Romania this weekend for a Tournament preparation. I frowned. I had planned to spend time with Thatch and talk about Freddie but I couldn't now.

I shoved the letter in my pocket. "I have to go," I murmured. I brushed past Fred and George and walked quickly to the nearest hidden passage. The boys were arguing but no one followed me out.

I pulled the letter back out and frowned, we would be departing from school on Thursday, and I had been excused from classes and should meet Ludo in Dumbledore's office in the morning.

"Nora!" I turned and Neville was running towards me. I stopped, he didn't. He plowed me over. I banged my head on the ground and cringed. He kept running. "Help me!"

I scrambled up and pulled out my wand. "_Finite incantato." _Neville sighed and smiled.

"Did Malfoy do that?" I asked. He shook his head.

"I did, curse rebounded, and everyone else just thought it was funny."

"Nev, I'm not going to be around for a while and I need you to stay brave, okay?" He stopped walking.

"What do you mean 'not going to be around for a while'?" He put his hands on my shoulders and I noticed he was taller than me.

"I… um… have like a community service thing that I have to do for the Ministry. I'm going away for a few days, I'll be back before you know I'm even gone." I smiled and he frowned more.

"I always notice when you're gone, Nora." I hugged him.

"Oh Neville." He kept a comforting embrace around me until we needed to go to class.

* * *

I was sitting in a flying carriage that was bigger on the inside. Ludo was talking happily over his cup of coffee with a new Ministry man and Kingsly Shacklebolt sat with me in the corner. I rubbed my eyes and blinked, trying to wake up. I had stayed up too late talking to Thatch about Fred in the Room of Requirement.  
I had been unsuccessfully lectured by Barty Crouch this morning as I leaned heavily on my hand in a chair in Dumbledore's office about the importance of maintain a good public image. I would be in the public spotlight throughout the tournament and I should look more presentable. My haphazard infractions on the school dress code would not be acceptable and y nest of black curls needed to be dealt with. I nodded sleepily and was wearing a pair of jeans with dragon hide boots and a canvas jacket. I didn't know how much I would be doing with the dragons and I didn't think that a fluffy dress or my school uniform was appropriate. My hair, much to Crouch's chagrin was a mess because of the humidity from the rain the past few days. I didn't expect to see any photographers so I didn't understand the problem with how I looked.

I hadn't told George or Fred where I was going. I left Thatch to tell them that. I was still conflicted about my feelings for Freddie. But he liked Angelina but he also acted like he like me… and Neville acted like he was too shy to admit anything to me…

"Nora." Kingsly touched my shoulder and I was jolted out of my mind palace.

"Yes?" I turned to him. I hadn't realized I'd been staring into the great perhaps so long.

"We're here." I looked at the ground, there were dragons roaming around freely enjoying the wilderness. The carriage descended and I climbed out to be greeted by a pair of familiar arms. I laughed and held on to Charlie as he spun me around once.

"How's my favorite dragon whisperer?" I smiled and he laughed.

"Loving life, glad to see my favorite Anarchist again so soon." Charlie wrapped an arm around my shoulder and we walked away from the adults. "I volunteered to look out for you while you're here helping with the dragons." I nodded and he pulled me behind a tree. "Look." I followed his outstretched finger to see a small adult dragon softly blowing flames over three eggs that were shaking violently. The little dragons burst out and slipped and slid over their shell pieces. The mother nuzzled them and coddled them.

"Wow, and you get to see this every day?" Charlie nodded with a big smile.

"Isn't it amazing?" I smiled and committed the beauty of the newborn dragons to memory.

* * *

I was in Charlie's tent, he had a bedroom, a kitchen, and a couch where he had graciously offered to sleep on and give me the bed. We were sitting on the couch listening to my records and drinking tea. I took a sip and Charlie asked, "Fred kissed you yet?"

I choked out "What?" He laughed and slapped his leg.

"That's better than anything I imagined.

"What the bloody hell are you talking about?" I put my tea cup down. He kept laughing when he saw my face.

"You and Fred are obviously together, we have a betting pool on when you'll tell everyone. Of course mum and dad don't know but George is even in on it."

"We aren't, last time I checked, Freddie had many-"

"Freddie?" Charlie smirked. "Do you call him that to his face?" I nodded.

"Yes, why?" He sipped his tea.

"Nothing, it's just George is the only one he's ever let call him that within earshot of another human being." I playfully shoved him and rolled my eyes.

"Maybe he just doesn't have the heart to tell me to stop."

"I think he just likes yooooou." I groaned and hid my smile.

"I think I'm going to head to bed, we have a big day tomorrow. Good night Charlie!" I put my tea cup down and walked to the bed.

"Sweet dreams of Freddie!" I stuck my tongue out at him and forcefully pulled the curtain over and flopped on the small bed.

I felt my jacket pocket vibrate and pulled out my hand mirror. "Hello?" Harry wouldn't normally want to talk to me this late.

"Nora! Where did you go?" Fred was pale with worry but his look of relief made me smile.

"I'm taking a small vacation, Freddie." He narrowed his eyes. "What do those bollocks Ministry people have you doing now?" I shook my head.

"It's a secret, dear, I can't tell you." He ran his free hand through his hair.

"When are you going to be back?"

"A fortnight? I don't really know but it shouldn't take long, why?"

"Because I needed to…" He bit his lip and looked around the room. "Nevermind. I need to get to bed anyway. Goodnight, Nora."

"But Fred-" He terminated the connection. "Well that was productive." I put the mirror away in my bag and pulled the blanket up around my shoulders.

The next morning, Charlie shook my shoulder and I growled.

"Oy, Beowulf, get up." I rolled over and right off the edge of the bed. The blanket came with me. I felt around on the dresser for the watch Sawyer had given me and looked at the glow in the dark face.

"What are you doing waking me at this unholy hour?" I pulled the blanket over my head and curled up on the floor.

"You really need to get up, we have to get out to the paddocks to wrangle the dragons." I uncovered one side of my face and glared at him.

"_I _am going to be wrangling dragons?" He nodded.

"Or at least be putting the sleeping drafts into their mouths."

"They want to bloody kill me, not send me the Azkaban. Have me be burned to a lovely fried Nora crisp." I got up and used mocking voices to act out a conversation. "'Oh, fancy a chip Minister' 'No! I'll just have a nice slice of that little vagrant we sent to Romania.' 'Good choice.'". I grumped and put the blanket flipped the blanket back over the bed before digging in my backpack for a pair of pants and shirt.

Charlie walked out and I heard him clanking stuff around. "Hurry up, Nora! The day's half gone by now." He joked. I hopped around as I pulled my pants up. My shirt went on and then I pulled on my jacket.

"Hold your ruddy horses, I'm ready." I grabbed my boots and sat down to pull them on.

"That's what you're wearing?" He handed me a tin cup of coffee. I glared at him.

"What's wrong with the way I dress?" He held up his hands to show he was sorry for saying anything.

"Just that those fabrics will be burnt through in half a second."

"Well I don't have anything else." I sipped the coffee and grimaced because it was super strong.

"I have something around here that will fit." Charlie dug around in a chest and tossed a blob of dragon skin with buttons and zippers at me. I held it up.

"What is this?" I rotated it trying to find a familiar shape.

"It's what's going to keep the dragons from turning you crispy brown and delicious." I stood up and tried to figure out how to put it on. "No like this." He unzipped it and held it out. I stepped into the two holes that I though my legs went in and he pulled it up for my arms. I zipped it up and looked in the mirror on the wall. It was not flattering and also way too big for me. Charlie covered a laugh.

"You're kidding." I twirled around the belts and looked at him. He took a deep breath to keep his composure.

"It's a little big, I'll give you that." I dug in my backpack and pulled out my wand. I looked in the mirror and focused on what parts I wanted to change. I cocked my head to the side a little. I rolled my wand handle around my hand and frowned. I snapped it and my clothes tightened to give it more of a contouring shape.

I smirked and raised my eyebrow. Charlie whistled. "Didn't teach us that at Hogwarts. Here are some boots and gloves." I had to tailor those too.

I was drug outside and marched to a large woven metal paddock. There were sections that the bars had melted together and I sighed. "That's a good sign." Charlie yelled at one of the men guarding the gate and he waved us inside.

"Now you have to listen to everything I say, alright, Nora?" I nodded and sighed.

"Yes, Charlie. I do not want to get burnt today, so I will gladly listen to you."

"Good. Now come on, we're getting two dragons today." I sighed and he marched me into the paddock. I froze up and he pushed me towards a sleeping jade green dragon bigger than Hagrid's house.


	21. Goblet of Fire Part 8

"Stop touching it!" I growled and yanked my hand away from the medical witch who was getting very fed up with me.

"I have to touch to make it feel better, what part of that do you not understand?" I pouted and kept my hand cradled to my chest. I looked at her with venom in my eyes as I slowly let her take my hand. She dabbed on a thick yellow paste and I hissed with pain. She kept her grip on my hand.

"How's our little Nora doing?" Charlie ducked under the canopy that shaded the medical station.

"She's being difficult, but not nearly as bad as you, Char." I looked at Charlie when the woman turned away to get something.

_Char? _ I mouthed. He waved his had to brush away my comment and I smirked. I had gotten burnt by the last dragon we had to wrangle. It was a nasty piece of work; the Hungarian Horntail. It looked mean and it's disposition was even worse.

"Well put some salve on it and get her back out here. She's going to ride with us as we transport them back to Hogwarts." I shook my head.

"No can do, _Char_. I don't fly." I looked at my hand as the lady wrapped it up in a bandage.

"Too bloody bad, you're going to learn." I shook my head.

"You can't make me." He crossed his arms and smirked with his stupid eyebrow up.

"You want to bet?" I sighed. He pulled me off of the exam table and to a small cabana where he pulled out two brooms.

"This isn't fair at all, you were a Quidditch player, and the last time I rode a broom, your brother hexed it and tried to be my shining night."

"And you're sure he doesn't like you?" He stuck his tongue out and I swatted at him. He handed me a fancy looking broom. "Only the best for dragon transport." I raised my eyebrow at him.

"You really think I'm going to be able to fly this?" He nodded.

"I'm a great teacher, Nora Black, trust me.

"You're a ruddy menace and I hate you Charlie Weasley." I yelled from where I was hovering ten feet off of the ground. He just laughed and told me to go higher. I slowly inched the handle up little by little the broom slowly rose. I kind of like it. I leaned forward and sped up.

"Slow up, you don't know how to stop!" I had gone into a nose dive and slipped off the broom back to the ground. I hadn't been far away for it to do any more than smart my bum. I got back on the broom and tried again. I shook away my reservations because what's the worst that could happen. I took the broom higher than I had before. My googles were around my neck and I pulled them on before zooming off into the sunset. Charlie appeared beside me.

"Now you're getting it! He got in front of me and I tried to get around him as we raced through the trees and around the paddocks where we even dodged dragon fire that spewed from between half melted bars.

"Get out of my way so I can beat you!" I joked as I looked for a place he wasn't ready to move. I dipped my broom down and went underneath him. The shock on his face was priceless. I smiled and he sped up so we were neck-and-neck.

"Weasley! Stop fooling around. We need to get these on the move on." The sleeping dragons had been put into enchanted metal crate we were flying all the way to Hogwarts. I had asked him why they didn't just put them on a train or apparate them there and Charlie shrugged and said it was above his paygrade. I mumbled about this being a ruddy awful plan as I helped cover up the Chinese Fireball's crate with fireproof canvas. Charlie came over and tied a rope to my broom handle and double checked it before we took off.

It was a long and tedious trip back to Hogwarts.

We landed far enough away in the Forbidden Forest that the students couldn't see us. The dragons were waking up from their stunning charms and it was a pain to get them back to sleep. The dragon fire lit up the night sky and I pulled Charlie back just in time to avoid getting singed.

"Thanks." I nodded and ran to help carry a blanket of eggs to the Chinese fireball.

I waddled back holding the corner of a blanket full of granite colored eggs. I saw Hagrid and waved before grabbing back onto the blanket. I helped slip the eggs into the Dragon's pen and ran over to hug Hagrid. I stepped back when I let go and giggled. "Hagrid, did you comb your hair?" He blushed and I noticed Madame Maxine looking at the dragons.

"You might like to try the same thing now and again." I pointed at the Beauxbatons' headmistress.

"Did you bring her here?" I watched her carefully but when I looked at Hagrid, he had such a lovey dovey look in his eyes at her and I wanted to gag. "I need to get back to work." I noticed a shimmering a little way away from Hagrid and walked towards it but my name was called out and I ran over to where I was needed.

It took a while before the dragons calmed down, but when they were all back to sleeping, Charlie and I rode the brooms up to Hogwarts. I handed mine back to him and he shook his head.

"I have a feeling that you're going to have some friendly competition and you're going to need a broom to race my brothers." I smiled and shoved the broom into my backpack. The undectable extension charm worked like a miracle. I jumped up and hugged Charlie who held me tight.

"Go tell Fred how you fee. He's oblivious sometimes. It's for the best." I groaned.

"If the situation presents itself, I'll ask him. I'll see you tomorrow Charlie." He tousled my hair and gave me a crooked grin.

"Take care of that burn or you'll have scars like me." I chuckled.

"Don't you know scars give me street cred? I gotta look tough."

"Bye, Nora." I opened the big oak door.

"Bye, Charlie." I slipped inside and sighed. There was silence and I walked up the stairs. My burn was itching so I started unwrapping it. There was a shuffle and a suit of armor was knocked over. I jumped and fumbled for my wand. I didn't reach it in time before I was crushed against someone in a hug. It was Freddie. He let me go a little and kissed my forehead. My heart hammered and I hugged him again.

"You act like you missed me or something, Freddie." He laughed and George stepped over the fallen armor. Fred's hands were still on my sides and my hands were still on his forearms. "George!" I smiled and Fred hesitantly let me go.

George hugged me and whispered, "Did you two kiss yet or not?" I shoved him away with a smile.

"That's none of your business, George." The boys escorted me back to the common room. Everyone was already asleep so I sat with the twins on the couch in front of the fire and talked about how my trip went. I didn't tell them about the dragons or the fact I now had a broom and could use it. They kept probing me for information but I wouldn't budge. I wasn't going to help them corner the betting pool with insider information. They had told me they were going to be taking bets on the Quadwizard tasks. I leaned on Freddie who put his hand so it grazed my leg. I unwrapped my hand and looked at the slick scar. It was bright pink and still stung. I grabbed my ointment out of my backpack and smeared some more of the goo on before rewrapping it. The twins both looked at me and then a look of recognition passed over their faces.

"Dragons! You brought dragons back!" I shook my head. Andi appeared with a burst of flame, she was always so dramatic. She landed on my shoulder and snuggled against me.

"You missed me too, didn't you girl?" I heard someone hurry down the steps and turned to see Harry, Ron, and Neville trip on the last step. They fell with a thud and I climbed over the couch to help them up.

I grabbed Neville's hand and the other boys helped each other up. I hugged Harry and Ron together. Neville stood awkwardly to the side and I grabbed him.

"Did you miss me, Neville?" I smiled and he turned red and nodded.

"Of course." I grinned and hugged him again. He was one of my best friends and I knew he needed me more than the twins or Harry did.

The clock chimed midnight and I needed to go to bed.

"We should be getting to bed, all of us." I gave a pointed look at the twins and they shrugged. I tousled Harry's hair and walked up to the girls' dormitory. Andi flew to my bed and I got under the covers. I touched my forehead and sighed. Freddie did like me.

The next morning I was up and back out at the dragons before daylight because Charlie had gotten me used to staying up late and getting up early. Charlie met me with a cup of coffee and I drank it without tasting it.

"Ready to get the stadium set up?" I nodded. The first task was tomorrow and there had been people working night and day since I left to get the platform the first task would be held on completed in time. Charlie and I were in charge of setting up the rocks for the champions to use as cover and the nest the dragon would be protecting.

We were both levitating the rocks and dropping them randomly and I started humming. I was concentrating on a large boulder when Charlie asked.

"Tell Fred last night?" The boulder landed hard and cracked.

"Bollocks." I fixed the rock and turned to look at the troublesome ginger. He smirked.

"Did you?" He raised an eyebrow and I shook my head.

"No, I didn't and it's none of your business if I did or not." I turned back around and went back to work. "I was thinking I'd wait until after the first task, anyway." I mumbled and built an outcropping that would be imperative to use as a way to get the golden egg with a clue for the next task.

Charlie let the Fred conversation drop and I was happy. It was weird to talk to him about his brother like that anyway. When the rocks had all been placed I looked around and sighed. This was a completely ridiculous task and it was much too dangerous for Harry, it was too dangerous for anyone really. Charlie put his hand on my shoulder.

"Harry'll be fine, we'll be here to help if things go bad." I looked up at him and pursed my lips.

"Harry's just prone to misfortune, I'm sure he's going to get the Horntail as his dragon and I wouldn't wish that on anyone." We walked out of the stadium to get lunch before we took our turn on the dragon watch.

"Miss Black!" Ludo ran over to me with a massive crate in his arms.

"Mr. Bagman, seems you've got yourself a handful there."

"Oh yes, oh yes. Mr. Weasley, if you'll give us some privacy, I need to talk to Nora alone." Charlie nodded and patted my shoulder before leaving. "Alright, now that he's gone, would you mind terribly grabbing the other side of this? We need to take it up to the judging panel for review." I grabbed a handle and was pulled down by the weight.

"What's in here?" I grunted as we walked to the school.

"The eggs with the clues for the first task. The school sponsors all have to review them and Mr. Fudge and Crouch will be there to oversee." I rolled my eyes, this would be fun. "Oh, and Nora, remind me to tell you about your next assignment. I believe you will enjoy it very much." I looked over at him and tightened my grip on the crate.

"What makes you think I haven't enjoyed dragon wrangling?" My hand was still bandaged and still itching.

"I just think that the next activity will be more your speed." I kicked open a side door and Ludo and I awkwardly walked up the stairs to Dumbledore's office.

"Mr. Bagman, why didn't we just use magic to carry these up to the office?" I panted. He was turning red in the face, too.

"Because there is to be no magical tampering with the clues nor the container they are in. It's in the rulebook."

"Soddy rule, isn't it?" I grumbled and sat the crate down on a table. The school officials crowded around and I ducked out before I could see what the eggs looked like. I needed to stay at least a little ignorant or else Harry would be trying to pump me for information. It was strange he didn't ask me about where I had been last night when I saw him…

"Nora," Dumbledore said quietly. He gestured for me to follow him to his desk.

"Yes, Professor?" He riffled through some letters on his desk and found the one he was looking for.

"I received this the other day and it was addressed to you. A very clumsy owl delivered it." I took the letter and tried to place the handwriting. "It seems you were very hard to find while you were gone." I tore open the envelope and smiled.

"It's from Remus and Sirius," I looked up at the headmaster who smiled.

"If you wish to take your leave, I believe we are very engaged here." I nodded and slipped out of the office without notice by anyone except Dumbledore. I read the letter as I walked down the steps. Sirius had gone back to 12 Grimmauld Place and he was cleaning it with Remus assisting. It was hard for Remus to find work and so he had taken up trying to reorganize the Order of the Phoenix to battle the imminent threat of another Voldemort character arising. I stopped while the set of stairs I was on moved. Sirius wrote that he had cleaned out a room I could use when I stayed with him. It was his brother's old room.

"Regulas," I rolled that name around and tried to place where I had seen it before but it wasn't coming to me. I went back to reading. He asked how the tournament was going and how I was doing as the Ministry's slave. Remus addressed my ever worsening relationship with the moon. I had sent him a letter after the night my arm popped out of place and back in. He was doing as much research as he could.

In closing, they told me to stay safe and have fun. Remus added that I shouldn't have too much fun but Sirius told me to have as much fun as I wanted. I grinned and put the letter in my bag. Andi cut through the air with a slip of paper in her mouth. She had apparently learned how to be a messenger while I was away.

I read off the note, "You are no longer needed for dragon watch, report to the stadium." I looked at my bird.

"They're going to have me running across the bloody island one of these days." She looked at me with intelligence but incomprehension. "Well come on then, no harm with you getting some fresh air."


	22. Goblet of Fire Part 9

I got out to the stadium and Charlie was waiting for me. I snuck up behind him and scared him. He had been reading a piece of parchment and eating an apple.

"Bloody hell, Nora! Give a chap some warning next time?" He held the hand with the apple to his chest and I crossed my arms.

"What did you want, Charlie?" He waved the paper in front of me.

"I would be a little more courteous to the person who just got you out of babysitting dragons all night." I sighed. "None of that, you're going to like what we do."

"What?"

"We're going to play Quidditch." I raised an eyebrow. I started to braid my hair and he grinned.

"Why are you smiling?" I snapped the rubber band at the end of my hair and crossed my arms.

"Because you've braided your hair."

"So?"

"You're going to play because you always put your hair in a braid when you are going to do something requiring it to be out of your face." I laughed.

"You need to stop talking to the twins so much."

"I figured that all out on my own, thank you very much." Punched his arm.

"Why are we going to play Quidditch?" He pulled out his wand and waved it, it shot blue and green sparks into the air and his brooms flew to him, in the arms of the some of the other younger witches and wizards that helped with the tournament and dragons. I pulled my broom out of my bag. Ludo appeared in his tight Quidditch uniform riding a broom that looked like it had been fitted to support his… expanded form. I sighed and gave Andi my backpack to carry. We all were put on teams and Charlie was the seeker while I was the beater. We flew to the Quidditch pitch and I was given a club. I knew what to do because I'd watched the twins do it enough times. I got up in the air and Charlie gave me a thumbs up. I nodded. Ludo was officiating. He released the snitch and I concerned myself with the bludger heading for my teammates. I spiraled and conked it away from one of the chasers.

The game was neck and neck for the most part. I didn't know how the boys did this all the time in practice. I was sweaty and winded when I got the chance to take a breath. Charlie was a blur on his broom. I could see why he had been the best seeker on Gryffindor's team. He and the other seeker had a tight race to get the snitch. Sadly, the other guy grabbed onto the little winged gold ball before the ginger but the win was fairly won and we all landed to rest for a little while before we went back to work. I was lying flat on my back with the others as we recounted the best moments of the match trying to catch my breath when Ludo walked over to me. I leaned up and pulled my now ruined braid into a messy knot at the back of my head.

"Nora, great match out there. I've just received notice that we are needed at a meeting of the judges to go over some new rules. It shouldn't take too long. Although… you may need to change. It is a somewhat formal affair." I used my broom to help me get up. Andi came down from the sky when I whistled and she was always the comedian and came to a rolling stop next to my feet. Everyone laughed, including me. She looked proud of herself and I grabbed my bag and let her climb on my arm so I could put her on my shoulder.

"Give me ten minutes to freshen up. Where should I meet you?"

"Outside of Professor Flitwick's office." I nodded.

"Alright, I'll be there in a shake and a wink." I turned and gave Charlie a high five before telling the others goodbye. I was met with a chorus of farewells that made my heart swell. I went to the locker rooms and took a lightning fast shower and changed into a dress that was only a little wrinkled from being in my backpack. I used my wand to flatten the creases and let my hair flow free in its wild black curls.

I dropped my broom stick into my backpack and slung it over my shoulder. Andi found purchase on my shoulder and I walked to the stairs. To Flitwick's office. I looked at my dragon fire scar and grimaced. Something else to add to my physical imperfections. Not that anyone had specifically pointed them out but I knew they were the first things people saw. The ones on my face being predominant. I knew that it was irrational for me to feel ugly because of them. They were proof I had survived some crazy stuff but I did. I kept looking at the scar and trying to think of how to get rid of it when I bumped into Neville standing in the middle of the hallway.

"Nev, what are you doing?" He put the piece of parchment in his pocket.

"Looking for you. You missed all your classes today."

"I was doing stuff for the tournament."

"I got your work from the professors, it's in the common room. You have a lot to catch up on, you should probably get to it as soon as you can." I took his hands and smiled.

"Thank you, but I need to run and take care of one more thing and then I will sit and let you lecture me to your heart's content about the herbology I missed because you are so much better at explaining it to me." I gave him a quick kiss on the forehead. I had to get on my tip toes. When did he get so tall?

"It's in really bloody bad form that they're keeping you from your school work to do this bloody tournament!" Neville yelled as I walked away.

"I didn't make the rule, Nev, you'll have to take that up with the Minister himself." I laughed.

I met Ludo outside the classroom and sighed.

"Will this take very long, Mr. Bagman?" I whispered as we walked into the room that was already buzzing with noise.

"I shouldn't think so, why?"

"I just remembered that I still have to make up all the schoolwork I've missed." An apologetic look passed over the man's face and I saw he had forgotten about all of it.

"I could possibly work something out with your professors, if you wish. Honestly it had completely slipped my mind that you had work to do." I shrugged.

"My friends will help me but I just thought I'd get to it tonight."

Fudge pressed his wand to his throat and his voice was amplified. "Please take your seats." Ludo and I sat at the front table. I was given a quill and a sheaf of parchment to take down the minutes. My scrawling handwriting was molded by the quill into type writer neat words.

"First order of business, the agenda for tomorrow." I already knew that this would take far longer than it needed to.

I ended up enchanting the quill to write down everything that was going on in the room. It seemed to me just a bunch of adults yelling for no reason and Fudge talking about everything is such minute detail I wanted to walk out. Ludo kept having to shake my shoulder to keep me awake. The later it got, the less hope my stack of work had to be completed.

"Nora." I opened one half closed eyes. Ludo leaned over.

"Yes, Mr. Bagman?"

"I think now is your chance to sneak out." Fudge was getting into a heated debate with one of the officials and I didn't ask twice. I slipped out of the room and ran to the common room.

Neville was asleep at the heavy wooden table. I stroked his hair out of his face and gently shook him to wake him up. I noticed a stack of papers next to his textbooks with my name on them. He snorted awake and bolted up.

"About time you showed up." He was flipping open his books and I stopped him.

"You need to go to bed, Neville." I took the quill stuck to his face off and sat it on his books.

"No, I need to help you with your work." He pulled his ink well over and pulled out his papers. I sat down and he started explaining the charms homework. I flipped through the papers he had kept for me. He had even copied his notes down for me. I would let him help me for ten minutes and then send him to bed. I would stay up a little longer after that.

"Thank you." I smiled at him as he scratched his cheek with the feather end of his quill and looked at the book.

In that moment, I realized that Neville cared about me. I knew he is a great person and he was one of my closest friends. He looked up at me.

"Are you going to get your book or do you just want to look at mine?"

"I'll get mine." I waved my wand and the book shot out of my backpack, startling Andi. I leafed through the pages and found where he was. We stayed up too late working on homework. I sent Neville up to bed and then remembered that I wanted to talk to Harry. I didn't care if it was midnight or not. I walked up to his dormitory and sat on his bed. I shook him awake, no need to scare him prematurely. He was already on edge with nerve I could imagine.

"What!" Harry bolted up and we coshed our heads together.

"Ow!" I pressed my fingers to the forming knot. "Merlin's beard, Harry, it's just me." He put on his glasses and lowered his voice.

"Nora! When did you get in? It's the middle of the night."

"I just got done with some work I needed to do. How are you feeling about the first task?"

"Quite peachy, if you must know." His sarcasm made me roll my eyes.

"Don't try to be clever, I'm the clever one, Harry."

"I'm a bloody nervous wreck, how else am I supposed to be?"

"You saw the dragons." It was a statement of fact. I knew the shimmery fabric I'd seen the other night was the invisibility cloak. "What are you going to do about it?"

"How did you know that…?" I sighed.

"Potter, I know everything." I smirked and he laughed.

"I was thinking about summoning my broom." I nodded.

"Good, that's a good idea." I kissed his forehead and smoothed his hair down.

"I told Cedric." I smiled.

"Thank you."

"Fleur and Victor already know." I nodded.

"Cheating is a tradition, I figured they knew. Get some sleep Harry. You have a big day tomorrow." I walked out quietly and went to my own room to sleep.

* * *

The next morning I had to meet Ludo for breakfast with the Ministry officials. I was wearing a dark gold dress with little pieces of golden silk sewn on that looked like scales. I had a headband on with spikes that looked like horns. My hair was twisted into spirals on the back of my head. I had slept in and just as I was sliding to a stop and pulling on my boots I ended up in front of the door of the breakfast room that was usually just a storage room. I walked in and Ludo nodded to me. Dumbledore put a hand on my shoulder and smiled. A picture of us was taken and then he leaned over and said,

"I think you should go eat breakfast with your friends, they miss you more than us old bats." I smiled and didn't wait for Ludo's dismissal.

The twins were taking bets in the common room when I got back. I smiled when Freddie's mouth opened at my outfit. "You might want to close your mouth before you drool, Fred." I laughed. He rolled his eyes.

"I'm only concerned about what good a fancy dress like that will do at the task. Wouldn't want to ruin it like the last one." I narrowed my eyes at him even though I wasn't really mad. I had willingly put my lovely Irish Quidditch dress in the line of fire so I had no one to blame but myself.

"I'm going to _change_." I sighed and went to get Harry and Neville. I noticed Ron was looking more put out than usual as he brooded by Seamus and Dean. I walked over. "Who's got your knickers in a twist?" I crossed my arms.

"Who do you think? The bloody 'boy who lived'!" I rolled my eyes.

"You really think Harry entered the tournament, don't you? What a blooming idiot." He stood up to yell at me and the twins were behind me in an instant.

"You need to stop being a drama queen, Ron." George said.

"The ladies don't like it when you act all moody." Fred smarted. Ron turned red.

"What would you know about what the ladies like? You haven't even got the stones to kiss Nora and I ha-" I clapped my hand over his ruddy mouth and pulled him away from the group.

"I thought we agreed never to talk about that?" I hissed. "It would destroy your brother to find that out." The look in my eyes must have been deadly because he turned pale. I released him and stormed off. I'd go eat breakfast with Thatch.

I walked into the Great Hall and straight the Slytherin table. Thatch stood up and gave me an approving look for my outfit. Then he saw my face. I always knew I wore my emotions openly but with Thatch he always knew everything from the way I looked. I sat down across from him and filled a bowl with my usual morning mix of oats, eggs, bacon, and toast. He was smart and didn't ask me what was wrong.

"Ready for the task, today?" I slurped some pumpkin juice.

"As ready as I suppose I can be." I said with a sigh.

"Worried about Harry?"

"Always."

"You'll keep him safe. You always do."

"I don't know how much I'll be able to do in the tournament, though."

"You're clever, you'll figure something out." He sipped his tea and I watched him watch a Durmstrang boy walk into the hall.

"What's his name?" I smirked. This broke his concentration and he dripped tea on his grey cardigan.

"What?"

"I asked you, what is his name? You're obviously moony over him, so you have to know his name." I couldn't stop grinning.

"Stop looking at me with that grin. It's annoying." He was flustered, this was one of the few times I'd seen him as such and I was going to keep it going.

"You want me to go ask him? I'm pretty tight with old Vic you know." He smiled and shook his head.

"Don't go ask him his name." I stood up from the table.

"What was that? Go ask him to sit with us? Alright, I can do that." I turned around and bumped into a girl from Beauxbatons. She sneered at me and I straightened up.

"Vatch ver you are going next time," she sashayed off. I growled and there was a hand on my shoulder.

"What?" I snapped and turned around. Moody was behind me and I sighed and closed my eyes.

"I'd like it if you kept a civil tongue in your mouth, Black." He said my names with a lot more disgust that I was used to. I still didn't know what was off about Moody but I knew it wasn't the same person I had met the night of the World Cup.

"Yes, Professor."

"Walk with me, there are some things I need to ask you."

He kept his heavy hand on my shoulder and I grabbed my breakfast bowl before leaving. As we walked along the hallways, I ate.

"Black, have you had any contact with your father?"

"No." He regarded me analytically.

"Your little stunt at the World Cup was impressive. Why didn't you help the Death Eaters? Your family once made up a large part of them, they still do, to some extent." I snarled and turned to the phony professor.

"You don't know me, you don't know my father. The Blacks are not my family. And I know that you are not Alistair Moody." I whistled and Andi appeared in a burst of flame that made the imposter shield his eyes. I brought my hands above my head and Andi apparated us to the Dragon Arena.

I threw my bowl against a rock and huffed. I needed to tamper with that man's polyjuice potion and find out what happened to Moody. Except now I was supposed to help put everyone in danger by subjecting them to dragons.

I walked up the steps to the champion tent and sat down on one of the comfortable couches that were scattered around. They may not come out alive but at least they had a comfortable place to rest beforehand. I smirked at the ludicrousness of it all. I wanted to write to Sirius and Remus. I would write them separate letters. I grabbed a handful of paper and a pen out of my backpack. I wrote Remus a quick letter asking if he had any new information on my affliction. The full moon was fast approaching and I was tired of being exhausted for days afterwards.

Sirius's letter was more of a rant against working for the Ministry's. I did tell him I played Quidditch and that I learned to ride a broom. I added that today was the first task and that I wished he was here to watch Harry. I hesitated before adding that I was having boy trouble but didn't elucidate who or what.

The owlery was too far away for me to want to walk so I enchanted the paper into sleek paper airplanes and sent them to my father and my… Remus. The two letters twirled lazily with each other and slipped out of the tent flap and I sighed. I wanted to go to sleep. A quick nap wouldn't hurt anything. I put my backpack on my stomach and stretched out on the couch. I closed my eyes.

"_Harry! Harry!" I screamed. He was in a dark cemetery. He turned and there was a flash of bright green light and he fell. I ran to him and held his body. He was gone. I turned to see where the light had come from. It was a beautiful boy with a smile. I barred my teeth and ran at him. His face was a mask of calm. _

_ "__You really think you can defeat Lord Voldemort?" I shook my head. _

_ "__No, but I can hurt you." I had my wand pointed towards him. _

"Nora!" Ludo shook me awake. "We have to get ready for the champions." I gasped and shook my head. That was a terrible dream.

"Okay." I sat up and grabbed my bag. "What do you need me to do?" I knew I looked sick but didn't want to talk about it.

"Are you alright?" I nodded and pushed a wayward lock of hair behind my ear.

"Yes, I'm fine, let's just get this show going."

"The champions will be meeting us here in a few moments. I will explain the rules and I think it would be best if you stayed back. Fudge and Crouch will be here for pictures for the Prophet. Seems it would be stirring up controversy to have you in so many official photos so I'm to ask you to… er… how do I put this delicately… not be in them?" I nodded. I didn't care one way or another if I was in the bloody prophet. Rita Skitter could get lost in Gringotts for all I cared.

"I understand." Viktor walked into the tent and I walked over to him. I looped my arm through his and escorted him to the refreshment table which, when I was sure Ludo wasn't looking, I covered in an assortment of foods from the various home countries of the champions. "Hello Viktor, would you like a tart?" He shook his head stiffly. He looked very scared at the idea of the task and I took him to sit down. "Don't worry." His eyes were huge.

"Not worry? How can I not worry? I am about to fight a dragon!" I patted his shoulder and my hand stayed on the sleeve of his athletic clothes the ministry had provided.

"What will worrying solve? Worrying is as effective as trying to solve a problem by chewing bubble gum. You are the bloody seeker for Bulgaria. You just caught the snitch at the World Cup. A little dragon isn't anything compared to you." I saw Fleur walk into the tent. I kissed Krum's head and wished him good luck and walked over to the beautiful girl. "Would you like some sparkling water?" She gave a slight shake of her head, causing her blond hair to quiver. She had kept it down which I didn't expect would be a good choice. "Care to sit for a spell? We must wait until the crowd is seated before beginning." I took her over to a couch and sat with her. I patter her hand and gave her a reassuring smile. "Would you like me to put your hair up so it's out of your face?" She touched her hair self-consciously.

"Do yoz think it would be better?" Fleur was pale and quiet and not as nearly as self-confident as I had seen her before.

"I think it wouldn't hurt to get it out of your face. And I would put it all up so the dragon couldn't burn off part of it." I pulled a hair elastic off of one of my bag's zippers and she turned her head. I had never felt such soft hair before as I twisted it up into a tight bun at nape of her neck. I secured it with the elastic and a little magic. "Perfect. Now you are ready to battle dragons and catch boys." We giggled and Ced pulled back the flap of the tent. I touched her shoulder and kissed her forehead. "I'm Nora, by the way. Good luck, Fleur." She squeezed my hand and gave me a smile. She didn't look quite as nervous now.

"Nora! Aren't you a sight for sore eyes." I hugged Ced and sighed.

"Can I get you anything? Water? Pudding? Cake?" I jested.

"No thank you, although I would take a master plan to defeat a dragon." I walked him to a chair and pulled one next to him.

"That I cannot give to you, my sweet Hufflepuff." I smiled at him and he shrugged.

"Never hurts to ask." I took his hand and squeezed it.

"Do you remember that time I accidently charmed Mrs. Norris into a screeching teapot?" He smirked and nodded.

"Yes, I do. Why?"

"I didn't know how I had done, you didn't know how to change her back and we were stuck with a furry teapot hissing at everything."

"Nora, what are you getting at?" I looked into his eyes and smiled.

"You are one of the brightest wizards I have ever known, if you can't defeat a dragon, who can?" I kissed his forehead and gave him another hug. "Good luck, see you at dinner."

Harry was a little later than the others and when he came in, he looked at the other champions and I hugged him tightly. "Nora, I can't breathe." I let go and pulled him to a corner.

"Did you eat, Harry?"

"No, I-"

"Are you hungry?"

"No, what does this-"

"Can I get you something to eat?"

"Nora! Why are you so concerned about if I'm hungry or not? Right now I'm just really bloody nervous about facing a dragon, to be honest. Food is not high on my list." I nodded.

"I know. I can't help you win but I can make sure that you're the best you can be out there. You're my champion, right?" He nodded and I hugged him again before Ludo came over to group the champions up and explain the task. I stayed beside the retired Quidditch player who was in his tight game robes again.

"You will all draw a model of the thing you are to face from this bag." He waved the silk drawstring bag around and continued. "There is something else I needed to tell you about it…"

"Eggs," I whispered. He nodded and pointed a finger in the air like the thought had come to him.

"You must collect a golden egg!" The sound of hundreds of feet pounding the wooden stand signaled for us to begin. Crouch came into the tent with dark pinstriped robes and Percy Weasley on his heels.

"You may begin the task, Ludo." Crouch said. I was hidden between Ludo and Viktor so I didn't have to deal with his prejudice.

"Lady, first then." He held the bag open for Fleur who reached in and tentatively pulled out the… "Welsh green." She looked at me and I gave her a reassuring smile.

Krum got the Chinese fireball. Ced the Swedish Short-snout.

"Oh Harry," I murmured. He muttered something darkly to himself and I knew.

"The Hungarian Horntail." The champions all stood in a shocked silence. Fudge left the tent with Percy after a photographer snapped a few pictures of him with the champions holding the figures of the dragons that were crawling all over their gloves. I had insisted that they all be given them to protect their hands and Ludo had obliged. I saw the master of ceremonies talking to Harry quietly a little ways off and I didn't want to interrupt. He was surely just asking him what his plan of attack was. I ran to Bagman right before the whistle was going to be blown.

"May I stay with Harry?" Ludo looked from Harry to I and sighed.

"Yes, but after he goes into the arena. I need you to be out of the tent and ready to… assist if anything were to go badly." The whistle blew and Ced walked past us. My fingers brushed his arm and I gave him a smile. He nodded and kept his determined pace to the arena.

I tried to stay calm as I listened to the gasps and cheers and screams from the crowd but Ludo's commentary painted pictures I could live without. Fleur was pacing around the tent quickly, deep in thought. I knew better than to disturb her now. Harry and I sat in silence until I heard the crowd cheer. Cedric had gotten the egg. I let out a breath I didn't know I had been keeping. I nodded to Fleur as she walked out of the tent at Ludo's call from the arena. I held Harry's hand. If anything happened to him I didn't know if I could ever forgive myself.

The crowd was just as reactive to Fleur as they were to Ced, every gasp clutched my heart and every cheer released it. It wasn't until Ludo said she had the egg did I stand up to get a drink. Viktor bowed to me before leaving the tent at a quick pace. I sat a water bottle in front of Harry who was off in a distant world by the look in his eyes. I took his hand and we sat, listening to Viktor Krum battle his dragon. He was very daring, or so Ludo said. There was a terrible screech and then cheering. Krum had gotten the egg. I stood with Harry and took a deep breath, I would walk him to the door of the stadium and then go. I would have to walk away even though I didn't know if I could.

The whistle blew, signifying we were to go now. Ludo called his name and I walked Harry out of the tent. I patted his wand strapped to his arm and said, "You can do this with or without your broom, because you are the clever boy who lived." I kissed his forehead and watched him walk into the tunnel that led to the arena where the Horntail was waiting for him.


	23. Goblet of Fire Part 10

I ran up the stairs to the bleachers and then elbowed my way to the railing. My knuckles were white I was holding onto the wood so tightly. I felt someone's arm wrap around my shoulders and Freddie was beside me. I saw Harry mouth something and point his wand in the air. I held my breath. His broom had to come to him. It just had to get here. Harry searched the sky and finally I caught a glimpse of it shooting over the woods. I exhaled and Harry got on the Firebolt without hesitation. He rose quickly into the air and assessed the situation. He dove and I watched as the Horntail shot a jet of flame at him. I clutched onto Fred's jumper but didn't pull my eyes away from Harry.

"He's got this, Nora, look at him fly." Fred murmured and stroked my hair.

Harry missed the second jet of flame but got hit with the tail. I gasped and Fred squeezed my shoulder reassuringly. Harry led the dragon slowly away from the clutch of eggs.

"Get the egg, Harry!" I yelled. My voice was tight. He slipped down and grabbed the egg before jetting off above the stands. I could finally breathe again. I turned to Fred and pulled him down and kissed him quickly on the lips. He reached to pull me back for another but I had to go see Harry. "I'm going to check on Harry." I turned away and slipped through the crowd to get to the first aid tent.

I paused before opening the tent flap and smiled as I touched my lips. I had kissed Fred. I ducked into the tent. Cedric was sitting up in his cubicle and I ran to Harry just as Madame Pomfrey healed the scratches on his shoulder. I hugged him and sat beside him.

"How did I do?" Harry smiled. I brushed his hair off of his forehead.

"I have to go take care of some stuff, have fun getting your scores." I kissed his temple and left the tent just as Ron and Hermione brushed past me. I met Charlie where the dragons were being held.

"We have everything tightened down back here, let's go see Harry's scores. I stood with Charlie in the mouth of the tunnel used to move the dragons.

Madame Maxine gave Harry an eight. I nodded. That was good. Crouch gave him and nine. "Harry's doing really well," I said with my arms crossed.

"That he is." Charlie smirked at me.

"What?" He shook his head and we watched as Dumbledore showed a nine. "Charlie! You have a stupid grin on your face."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"WHAT?" Ludo Bagman gave Harry a perfect ten. I looked at Charlie and he smiled outright.

"Told you he was doing well." I punched him in the arm.

"You knew Ludo would play favorites with him."

"Didn't you?" I sighed and hesitantly nodded.

"Yeah but I wanted to act the right amount of shocked. A ten? That's a little high."

"Well Karkoroff's going to take care of the high score." I saw the headmaster of Durmstrang give Harry a four. I kept my composure well considering the circumstances.

"A bloody four, what a soddy, sickly, wanker." I muttered darkly. I saw Charlie looking at me and he laughed.

"You're a very emotionally diverse person, you know that?" I rolled my eyes.

"Yes, I've been told that a time or two." Charlie grabbed my elbow and pulled me to meet up with Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"You're tied for first with Krum, Harry!" He clapped my brother on the shoulder and grinned proudly. "Well Nora and I have got to run back and start packing things up and I promised I'd send Mum an owl telling her what happened. That was brilliant." He stopped and thought about something for a moment. "What did I forget…?"

"Harry, they want you to meet the other champions in the first tent you were in, they want to talk to you about something."

"Thank you, Nora, I don't know what Fred—or any of us—would do without you." I turned a bright red and Harry laughed.

"Even Charlie knows he likes you, Nora, the jig is up." Thatch walked over wearing a scarlet cardigan over a silver button up with a green bowtie. He and I were a lot more lax with the dress code. We usually wore the uniform but changed as soon as we could.

"Oy! Go on Harry, Ludo wants to talk to you as soon as possible." I playfully shoved him in the direction of the tent.

Ron, Hermione, and I had planned a little surprise party and they were going to keep Harry out of the common room until I was done setting up. Mentally, I was figuring out how to get all the food and drinks to the room. Charlie and I walked down the steps to the arena floor. I heard a thundering of feet and Charlie looked back. "I think there are some twins looking for you."

"That was bloody brilliant, wasn't it Nora? Harry using the Firebolt was a stroke of genius." George clapped me on the shoulder and I looked at Fred who had this little smile that I knew was just for me. It made my stomach twist in knots and I couldn't tell if that was good or bad.

"It was, wasn't it?" I said with a tight smile. I took my wand out of my jacket sleeve and rolled it between my hands as we all stood in awkward silence. I need to polish the gold rings down the length of it.

"Hey George, mind coming with me to send mum a letter?" Charlie nodded his head towards the exit. George looked at Fred and I and then nodded.

"Yeah, looks like these two need to talk." I watched the two Weasleys walk away and sighed.

"I… uh, need to go get some stuff for a little party I'm having for Harry not being killed by a dragon." I went to walk away and Fred's arm caught my hand.

"You did just kiss me, right? Because now you're acting weird and I can't tell why." I looked up at his chin because I couldn't meet his eyes. I felt his hand move to my back and his other gently move my face so I was looking up at him. The overwhelming feeling of wanting to kiss him made me falter. His shaggy red hair needed to be cut but right now I wanted to run my fingers through it. So I did. The loving look in his blue eyes made me melt and I hated it. I didn't need him making it clear that he liked me. He leaned in to kiss me again but I took a step back and shook my head.

"I need to go." I walked away.

Outside the arena, Fred caught up with me and easily kept pace. "What do you need for this party? Butterbeer? I can sneak down to Hogsmeade for you and get some. Anything else you'll need? I can grab you some sweets, too. I know you fancy those little lemons that taste like…" I had stopped walking and was just watching him. "What's the matter, love?"

"What are you doing?" I gestured to him.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants after pulling his hat down further over his ears.

"You're being all helpful and you just called me 'love'." He shrugged.

"I thought you'd like it. Girls tend to like it when their bloke gives them a pet name." I scoffed.

"And what makes you think you're 'my bloke'?"

"That's the obvious part, you're obviously mad for me, now aren't you? Don't try and deny it, everyone knows it." I ground my teeth.

"_Obviously._" I growled sarcastically. I stormed away but he kept following me.

"Oh come on, Nora, don't be mad, I didn't mean it like that. I just meant that everyone knew we liked each other except us." I didn't reply. He sighed and continued. "I really like you." I whistled and Andi came in and as soon as her talons touched the tips of my outstretched fingers I was engulfed in flames.

I dropped to my knees in front of Hagrid's house. He was tending his pumpkins and jumped when I appeared. I angrily wiped the tears brimming in my eyes.

"Nora, what's wrong?" My guardian stood up and brushed off his hands on his jacket.

"Nothing, I'm just tired." Hagrid's brow furrowed into deep creases.

"Nora…" I looked at him and sat down on the steps.

"It's just a spot of boy trouble. Hormones and the like." I stood up and smoothed down my dress. "It'll all blow over soon." I went to walk away but Hagrid cleared his throat.

"You know I care for you like you is me own daughter, Nora, and I saw your da and ma do the same thing that you and Fred are doin'. Skirting around the point because neither one will admit your feelings." I went to speak but Hagrid held up a hand and sat on the steps I had just vacated. "He's come 'round talking to me. Middle of the night sometimes. He's bloody worried about you, Nora. That boy used to be the most carefree feller I'd ever met and then you got yourself into that scrape with the vampire, then last year with professor Lupin. He's been coming down here to talk to me about you. He wants to take care of you Nora."

"I don't need-"

"I rightly know that you think you don't need taken care of. You've always been the independent sort of lass but it wouldn't hurt to let him try. That's all I have to say about that. Don't you have a celebration to be getting on with? Harry got the egg and is tied for first place in the tournament!" I smiled and nodded.

"Thanks Hagrid." He gave me a hug before I headed up to the castle. Thatch was waiting for me by the Gryffindor common room.

"Where've you been?" I kept my head ducked as I said the password. My face always got splotchy when I got upset and it was a dead giveaway.

"Just getting ready for the party." I walked in and Dean Thomas came up to me with a roll of large sheets of parchment.

"Hey Nora, want me to show you the posters you asked for?" I nodded and Thatch touched my shoulder. I turned towards him and he saw the look in my eyes.

"What happened?" He whispered. I shook my head.

"Nothing, don't worry about it." I rubbed my eyes and Dean spread out the perfect painted posters on the table.

"These are beautiful, Dean. Spot on." I looked around. "Do you think that we should just hang them up or enchant them?" Thatch gave me a concerned look. "I'll talk to you later about what happened." I said under my breath and we continued to set up.

Fred and George burst in with arms full of food and cases of butterbeer. Fred sat his spoils on the table and then looked at me for some sort of sign that I was happy he had done it.

"Thanks, Fred." I walked to the other side of the quickly filling common room. Thatch had grabbed my hand and was staying with me. "What was that about?" He asked as he pulled me into a hidden hallway. I brushed my hair out of my eyes.

"What was what about?" I crossed my arms.

"That! The ice queen treatment you just gave Fred back there." I shrugged and his neck started to turn red.

"I swear to God, Nora! You're the most difficult human being I've ever had the pleasure to know." He held up his hands and took a deep breath. "Sorry. I didn't mean that. It's just you two were so close to being happy together."

"So I need a man to be happy?" I spat. My best friend pinched the bridge of his nose.

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

"I need to get back to the party." I brushed past him just in time to see Harry be lifted into the air by the twins and everyone was cheering.

"Open up the egg, Harry!" Seamus yelled. Harry held up the golden egg and unclasped the top. A horrendous screech filled the room and everyone's hands slapped over their ears. My eyes caught Fred's as he straightened back up after Harry shut the egg. I looked away and slipped out of the common room, I needed some fresh air.

I wandered around until I found a little area that was open to the night air. There was a railing and walkway that jutted out from the hallway into the night. It was raining a little but I didn't mind.

If I lived in one of those dumb muggle movies where the plot revolved around romance and love, this would be the perfect moment to have Fred run to me and kiss me in the rain. But since this is real life, I stood in the biting cold gripping a metal railing that chilled me to the bone thinking about all the reasons I shouldn't be with Fred.

If he did decide to follow me out here, I had a speech all lined up in my head. I waited for ten minutes, fifteen, around the twenty minute mark I was cold and wanted to go back inside. I hesitated outside the portrait of the Fat Lady. The water dripped off of my clothes onto the stone floor and in the silence of the hallway, I could hear everything that was going on inside the common room. There was a happy ruckus spilling out. I took a deep breath and said the password. I went back just in time to see Neville eat a Canary Cream and turn into a large yellow canary. Everyone paused and watched it fly around for a moment before he turned back to normal.

"Canary Creams, everyone! George, Nora, and I invented them, seven sickles each, a bargain!" Fred said, holding up a platter of the inconspicuous sweets and I noticed his belt had a change maker on it.

I successfully avoided talking to anyone about Fred up until I walked Thatch back down to the Slytherin common room.

"I don't want to talk about it right now." I said before he could even open his mouth as we walked down the steps.

"At least tell me what happened." I stopped and looked over the railing as the stairs moved.

"I kissed Fred, at the task, when Harry got the egg."

"Was it bad? You're acting like he kicked your phoenix."

"No, the kiss was good, quick, but, good. I just… don't know if it's right."

"Right for who?"

"Him, me, either of us. We're business partners. Best friends. I'm not the dating type." We continued walking down the staircase.

"You're scared. Aren't you? No use lying to me, Barkers."

"I'm not scared of a boy. I've faced hundreds of things scarier than a _boy._" Thatch hugged me in the middle of the hallway.

"It's okay to be scared, you don't have to tell me why you are, but don't deny it." We continued on in silence all the way to his common room door.

"Goodnight, Thatch."

"Take care of yourself, Barkers, or let Fred help you." I left without saying anything.

December came with sleet and biting winds and the halls were as drafty as ever. Ludo had given me the daunting task of planning a whole ball in twenty-five days. This actually was a blessing because I could spend hours every day hiding away from Fred and working on the design for the ball. I had sent an owl to a friend I knew who would flip for a chance to perform here. Professor Flitwick had consented to get the orchestra into shape to perform the opening numbers and give the band some relief.

At this moment I was playing a record in the common room trying to figure which songs I should have the band put on their set list. I pulled Seamus up from his comic book and we waltzed sloppily around the furniture and I laughed when he dipped me backwards and I fell because he went too far.

"What are you doing on the ground, Ms. Black?" Fred stood over me, smiling.

"Dancing. Sir, haven't you seen my unparalleled moves?" His hand hovered close for me to take. My heart hammered over such a small gesture so I stood up on my own. The next song came on and before I knew what had happened, Fred was spinning me around the space in front of the fire. I pressed my cheek against his chest and sighed. My eyes were closed and I loved this moment. There were a bunch of soft whispers and looked to see George herding everyone away to give us some privacy.

"Why have you been avoiding me, Renora?" A shiver crept up my spin and I closed my eyes.

"Because I'm scared." I muttered hoarsely. I didn't mean to admit that. He stopped dancing and leaned down to look into my eyes.

"Why are you scared? I would never hurt you on purpose, Nora. I swear it." He hugged me when I didn't say anything. He mistook my silence for agreement when really I just couldn't tell him that I thought I wouldn't be good for him in a relationship. I didn't know if I was ready for the responsibility of that kind of commitment. He kissed my forehead and a single tear fell from my eye as his lips stayed pressed against my forehead.

"We should go to bed." I walked up the steps without a backwards glance.

It was the week before Christmas and all through the castle people were excitedly looking for a partner for the Yule Ball that had been publically announced a few days after my moment in the common room with Fred.

It should be noted that after that night he had been increasingly persistent in his romantic advances. I had found genuine sweets and chocolates waiting for me at breakfast. He sent me notes during class. I knew he was going to ask me to the Yule Ball, it was only a matter of timing. I didn't think he was getting the message that I was avoiding him. I had been avoiding a lot of people lately. Neville was not one of them. He was my dance partner. We'd been having lessons in the Room of Requirement and he was very good. One day while we were walking down to lunch after a dance lesson, I thought he was going to ask me to the Yule Ball.

"Nora, I've been wondering…" I tilted my head to side a little and smiled. His tone made it clear he was nervous.

"Yes?"

"Would you… would you… want to…" He shook his head. "No, it's foolish."

"Would I what? Neville you know I'd do anything for you."

"Would you want to help me ask Ginny Weasley to the Yule Ball?" My self-confidence deflated in and instant. I put my smile back on and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

"Of course I would. What do you need help with?" The look of elation on his face made me feel better. He told me that he needed my help with setting up a sweet song and enchanted lanterns to float around the common room since Ginny loved lanterns.

Fred caught up with me as I was working on measuring the great hall for some decorations. "Nora, hey, I wanted to talk to you."

"I'm a little busy, Fred." I flicked my wand too sharply and my tape measure shot into the fake blue sky of the ceiling.

"I'll get that for you." He had his wand out and without saying anything, the tape measure was perfectly coiled in his hand once more. "Here you go," my fingers brushed the inside of his wrist and I took the tape as quickly as possible. "So I know you're busy decorating for the ball, I was wondering if you'd thought of what color you dress will be. I'd like to match you, if at all possible."

"Why would you want to match me? There are plenty of colors you can choose. I rather like you in purple." I chewed my lip thoughtfully as I tried to picture how I would get this room into my reality. His hand was on my shoulder and I finally looked over at him.

"What's going on, Nora?" I thought about blowing him off.

"I don't want to date you. I don't think we'd be a good couple."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm too young, too reckless, too boyish, nothing really good ever happens when I get attached to people." I was about to start counting out the reasons that had been running through my brain since I kissed him, but he took my hands in his.

"What can I do to help you? I'm mad for you, Nora. I want to make you comfortable. I'm never going to force you into anything you don't want." His eyes were full of thinly veiled heartbreak.

"I want you to move on. At least for a while. Angelina likes you."

"Do you even like me?" _Like _him? I thought about him every moment I had free. The feeling of his touch woke me up at night. I didn't like him, there was not a word to describe how important he was to me.

"I want you to try and find someone else to take to the Yule Ball. Just so you'll see if you really do like me or just the idea of me."

He chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment, the struggle of finding the right words laying heavy on his mind. "I… I'm not going to find someone else. Because I want to go with you. The most beautiful, cleverest, quirkiest girl I've ever known and I know I will not find another soul on the Earth who could match you." He kissed my cheek and stepped away. "I'm going to get you to say yes to me." My ears turned red at his cocky tone.

"No you won't! I am not going with you because I'm going with someone else!" His jovial look fell away in a heartbeat.

"What do you mean?" I decided to go with the lie.

"I asked someone else. They said yes. I don't want to go with you." I had never seen Fred look as hurt as he was in that moment. I watched as this pain was quickly covered up by anger and mock nonchalantness.

"Fine, if that's the way you're going to be! I will find someone else. You don't want me to love you, so I won't. Don't think that you can come back to me when you realize how much I would have done for you." His voice went from loud to scarily soft and I knew I had done it. He didn't want me right now and the longer he thought about it, the more he would come to his senses about the possibility of romantic ties between us. The Great Hall doors slammed behind him and just as the last echo disappeared, the gravity of what I had just told him hit me and I sat down on the hearth.

"What have I done?" My heart felt like it was made of glass shards and every beat tore at me. Maybe that's what I get for wanting to be sure that I should be in a relationship before I lose myself in it.

I stayed away from the common room until late afternoon when usually everyone was either napping, studying, or out of the place. I should have stayed away longer. I walked in to hear Fred yell to Angelina.

"Oi! Angelina!"

She looked over from where she was sitting by the fire. "Yeah?"

"Want to go to the ball with me?" There were a few gasps and whispers. Everyone thought that he was going to ask me. She gave him an appraising sort of look and I wanted to hex that look off of her face.

"Sure. Why not?" I felt hot tears prick at my eyes. I needed to go to my room which was right through the middle of this exchange. I took a deep breath, tucked my head and walked through the room. I didn't look at Fred for fear of what I might see.

"Nora…" Harry's arm brushed mine and I shook it off. I took the steps to my dormitory two at a time to make sure I got there before the first sobs came tearing out of my throat. It was too much for me to deal with right now. Everything was just too much.


	24. Goblet of Fire Part 11

_**Hello, my rabid readers. Please comment on how I'm doing. I love feedback. Even if you have something that you think needs addressed or don't think is working, tell me. I won't know unless you tell me. Thank you for reading.**_

At breakfast the next day, I sat with Thatch at the Slytherin table. I had gotten a few looks from people who wondered why my eyes showed signs of crying and then there were the hushed whispers of those who knew exactly what would make me cry like that. I was sure he'd already heard what happened. Gossip like that spread through the school like dragon fire.

"'morning, Nora."

"Thatch." I mixed together a bowl of my usual mix and stuck a handful of toast points around the rim.

"Pumpkin juice?" He held the pitcher up and I nodded. My goblet was filled and just over the brim I could see George and Fred sitting with Angelina between them.

"I think I'm just going to eat somewhere else." I got up and tripped over my school robes. Thatch helped me up while some of the Slytherins laughed. I left my breakfast and nearly knocked Neville over on my way out.

"Nora? What's wrong?" He tried to stop me but I didn't want to talk right now.

Some of the Durmstrang boys were working out by the lake and I tried to enjoy the view of their tight shirts and shorts but I couldn't. I kept seeing Fred jump into the stream by the Burrows last summer and smiled. You couldn't tell it from the way he dressed, but Fred wasn't a twig anymore. Someone walked up beside me and I moved over on my rock. I looked over and it was George. He was holding a big box with a mushed bow and creases around the edges.

"I think Sirius sent this for you." He sat beside me and I sighed. I didn't take the box right away. "It arrived right after you stormed out of breakfast." He slid it into my lap and I looked at it.

"I don't have a date, you know." I said quietly as I fiddled with the bow.

"I know." I slipped the ribbon off the dress box and put it aside.

"I have to go to the ball, and watch him and Angelina."

"You said that's what you wanted. He told me. Well he screamed about it, really."

"He did?"

"He was upset. As carefree as we act, what you said really hurt him. He doesn't fancy a lot of girls, and you're topping the charts on how angry you can make him which I think translates to how much he cares about you."

"I don't want another lecture, George." He nodded.

"I don't want to lecture you but you've hurt my brother, and you've hurt yourself by alienating the people who care most about you. And as hard as it is sometimes, I do want both of you to be happy. You don't have to marry him, Nora, just give him a chance, alright?" He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and I sighed. "Now are you going to open that box or not? I want to see what your dress looks like." I shook my head.

"No, I want it to be a surprise." I felt better after George talking to me. "I think I'm going to go back up to the castle and start decorating.

"I'll walk you up. Watching a bunch of meat heads work out isn't in my plans for the rest of my life." At the front doors, I dropped my box and hugged George tightly. "Omff, what's this for?" My face was buried in his robes so my words came out muffled.

"Because I needed a hug." He wrapped his arms around my back.

"Well then I guess I'll have to do." The doors opened and Fred came out with Angelina, they were laughing and I stepped away from George.

"Hello, Nora." Angelina smiled in a self-conscious way. "George." Her smile was warm and I couldn't be mad about the fact Fred had done exactly what I wanted him to.

"Hey." I picked my dress box back up and we stood in awkward silence until Angelina spoke again.

"May I speak with you for a moment?" She looked at me and for a moment I was actually intimidated by the older girl. I nodded and she walked with me away from the twins.

"What is it?" I tied the bow on my box instead of looking at her.

"Is it okay for me to go to the Ball with Fred? You seem really upset about it and I don't want to cause you pain." I took a deep breath and sorted my words.

"You two go and have fun. I'll survive. Just treat him right like I know you will and I will be fine." I hugged her before going into the castle a different way. Ludo was admiring the icicles I had gotten Professor Flitwick to enchant so that they never melted and sparkled like crystals.

"Great job, Nora! I think this is the best Yule Ball yet and it hasn't even started!"

"Thank you sir." I smiled at the praise. "I'm working on getting the suits of armor to sing whole songs and not leave so many gaps for the poltergeist to add lib."

"I rather like his rendition of silent night. The flatulence rather set it apart." I giggled and Ludo put a hand on my shoulder. "You have done such an amazing job. I know you were coerced into doing this but I knew you would enjoy this. Are the rumors true? Did you get the Weird Sisters for the stage?" I shrugged but gave his a knowing smile.

"I may have pulled a few strings."

"Good job! Have you found a strapping young chap to have on your arm? I remember seeing a certain Weasley pining away for you on a few occasions of late…"

"I haven't found a date yet, no, Mr. Bagman." His smile faltered when he saw mine.

"Oh, sorry about that then, I should be getting on, need to help with… something, carry on, Nora."

"Bye." He walked away quickly. I thought about who I could ask to the Yule Ball, I hadn't talked to Harry about who he was taking. We could go together if he hadn't asked anyone yet. Inside the common room, I bumped into Harry talking to Padme and Lavender. In the corner, I heard Ron badmouthing Eloise and Neville and I frowned. He was laughing entirely too hard at the fact Neville had tried to ask out Hermione first. Ginny had accepted as soon as Neville had finished his sentence in the common room the other night. There were still a few lanterns floating through the halls.

"Hey Pavarti, hey Lavender. Harry, I was wondering if you'd like to go to the ball with me." I knew as soon as I said it he was going to say no. The twins were sitting in the corner with a letter between them, it was probably from the bank about the loan they wanted to take out for a brick and mortar joke shop they wanted to open in Diagon Alley. Fred looked up at me and I turned away, tucking my dress under my arm.

"Nora… I… I've just asked Pavarti, and she accepted." I smiled like everything was okay.

"Oh, no big deal then, you two have fun." I walked over to where Ginny and Ron were sitting. "You two wouldn't happen to know anyone who doesn't have a date to the ball, would you?" Ron looked up at me with large eyes. Ginny grinned.

"Ron here was just telling me that he was going alone. You could join him." He shrugged.

"Yeah, I need a date, care to join me?" He was trying to act cool about it but I had heard what he'd said about Eloise not being pretty enough.

"No, I don't want to join you because you're being a foul git. Eloise is a great girl and Neville has a date. You, on the other hand, have been too stupid to get up the courage and ask Hermione yourself. I'd rather go by myself than with someone who thinks being mean about other people will make themselves feel better. Enjoy yourself, Ginny." I smiled at her and got my dress before walking up stairs. In the privacy of my dormitory, I opened my box and sighed, Sirius had sent me the most perfect dress. I hugged it tight and spun before putting it in my wardrobe for safe keeping. On my pillow there was a little box and a note. I knew the handwriting from the moment I saw it.

_Nora, _

_I know you're probably very cross with me, I'm still steamed at you but I found this, wear it. It should help with the problems you have with full moons. _

_F_

The long silver chain had a single circular medallion stamped with tiny ruins and it shimmered with spells and hexs. I slipped it on and tucked it down my shirt where I could feel the cool metal press against my skin. I felt a small weight be lifted off my shoulders. Whether this relief came from this act of kindness or the jewelry itself, I did not know. The next full moon was after Christmas so I would have some time before I needed to use it. The last few hadn't been too bad but it still was a sleepless night that I didn't need.

As term ended, I realized that I have severely fallen behind in my classes. I spent the time I wasn't working on decorating, working on homework. The twins and I had started talking again because they needed some help with a new product they were working on now that the Canary Cream had become a hit. My stomach still did flips and twists when Fred was close to me but I hid it well because he helped me with transfiguration. I didn't want to be this close to him, but when I was, I felt better than I had for a long time. I managed to catch up on the first semester's backlog of work but there was still the heavy load of holiday work the professors had assigned.

"Never let me miss this much school again, Freddie." I mumbled as I almost fell asleep turning a pincushion into a small porcupine. He didn't say anything and I looked over at him. He had a smile on his face that I hadn't seen for a long time. "What?"

"You called me Freddie again."

"Don't get a big head, I am still your best friend." He rolled his eyes and went to say something but stopped and sighed.

"You're pincushion looks like a hedgehog with pins sticking out of it." I looked and sure enough, the little creature had multiplied the colored pins and was now prancing around the table showing off his decorations.

"I think it looks rather fetching, we should sell them in WWW. They'll be a great seller." The hedgehog came to my pile of books and bumped into them. It got mad and shot a shower of pins into the air. I shielded Fred's face along with my own. The pins bounced off. "Or maybe not."

"I don't know what you're talking about, that's a great prank. The happy little thing gets mad and explodes its pins every direction." While we had been getting excited about the new idea, we'd been leaning closer and when we realized it, pulled away.

"We better get this right or I'll never get any good marks ever again."

"It won't matter what marks you get here when you're working at WWW." He said plainly. My hedgehog had turned back into a pin-less pincushion and I stabbed some in before trying my spell again.

"Has Ludo talked anymore about setting up a meeting with some backers?" He shook his head.

"We've been trying to catch him but he's avoiding us lately." I nodded and my pincushion turned into a rather somber looking porcupine.

"He's been busy, I'm sure he'll catch you two soon." The common room was slowly clearing out, it was Christmas Eve after all. "Are you sure you wouldn't rather go to bed? I hear Father Christmas doesn't visit naughty boys out of bed." I poked him in the ribs.

"Well isn't that the pot calling the kettle black?" He tickled my sides and I squealed. "I know you told Peeves about the gaps in the carols and he took full advantage of it." We toppled out of our chairs and the tickling fight continued. I had the biggest smile on my face as we rolled around trying to get the other to stop but hoping they wouldn't. The clock on the mantle struck eleven and I sighed.

"I have to get up early to set up for the ball, the band's coming in and I need to make them comfortable." He helped me up and his hands stayed holding mine for a few seconds. I didn't pull away and I didn't fight the feeling of overwhelming warmth that spread through my body from his touch. He leaned down and pecked my cheek.

"Happy Christmas, Nora Black."

"Happy Christmas, Freddie." He watched me run up the steps to my door and then did the same.

* * *

Christmas morning I wasn't accustomed to having so many people in the dormitory when I woke up. Hermione, Pavarti, and Lavender all were unwrapping their presents and I heaved mine up onto my quilt. I had a box of sweets from Hermione, she squealed when she opened the bottle of Sleekeazy hair tonic I had found for her.

"Thank you, Nora!"

"You're welcome." I popped one of the mini chocolate cauldrons in my mouth as I opened my other gifts. Sirius had sent me a pair of evening gloves that shimmered a rainbow of delicate metallic colors that would go perfectly with my dress. Hagrid had sent up a utility knife which I would find very useful for all manner of things. It untied any knot and unlocked any door. Harry had sent me a handheld radio. The twins had sent me separate gifts. George had sent me a new set of dragon hide bound notebooks for our recipes. Fred's gift was wrapped in a silk covered box. I opened it to find an orange and purple jewel encrusted pin. It was the logo we were using for WWW. I had suggested the orange for their hair and the violet for my eye since I wasn't a Weasley or red haired. I smiled as I cradled it in my hands.

"What do you have there, Nora?" Pavarti and the other girls circled around my bed.

"A gift from the twins." I smiled sheepishly.

"You mean from _Fred."_ Hermione teased.

"Maybe." I pinned it to my pajamas.

"We're all happy you two are back on good terms." Pavarti said and she sat on my bed.

"Me too."

I got dressed and pinned the brooch to my shirt under my jacket. My charm still pressed against my stomach, I had been feeling much better since I started wearing it. The twins were waiting for me in the common room.

"How did you get these?" George held up letters I had gotten from a couple of wealthy people I had rubbed elbows with in my various travels. They were on board to help finance the joke shop when we were ready to start a brick and mortar shop. One of them, was in fact from Siruis although he signed it Max Kibblebits. I laughed at the signature.

"I do have a few good connections in the wizarding world. Figured it was the best present I could give you two." They hugged me.

"Thank you, Nora, you really are the cat's pajamas." Fred said. He had found a book of old American colloquialisms and had started using them in conversations.

"Least I could do for you two prats." I looped my arms through theirs and we went down to breakfast singing Peeves approved versions of carols. There were piles of Christmas crackers that exploded with a gunshot and Andi was overjoyed at the abundance of mice. This year she had to fight all the cats that had stayed with their owners for the ball for them which left her scrabbling over them under tables.

"Happy Christmas, Nora." Thatch walked over to Gryffindor's table.

"Merry Christmas." I pulled out the present I had tucked away for him. He was hiding mine behind his back.

"I thought you could wear these tonight." He held out a box topped with a glittering bow. I held out my gift for him and we traded like it was a hostage situation. The twins watched me as I untied the bow and took off the top of the box. I pulled out a pair of vintage purple heels. Thatch smiled at the sketchbook I had enchanted with moving models for his designs. He didn't want to do that for a living but he enjoyed unwinding by creating fantastical robes.

"I am not wearing these tonight."

"At least try them on, Nora." I slipped off my beat up purple trainers and the pair of socks Molly had sent me. I buttoned the straps on the sides of my feet and stood up. I wobbled precariously and Fred's hand was on my back to steady me. Thatch took my hands as if to waltz. Half of the Great Hall was watching me. "See, you're much taller now, it'll be easier to whisk you into a dance until the end of the evening." I smirked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"I thought you'd be too busy dancing with this mysterious Durmstrang bloke to be giving me a twirl around the dancefloor." Thatch grinned like the cat who ate the canary.

"I informed him that we'll have to take a break so I can show off my best friend wearing a beautiful pair of shoes I had to special order to make sure that they were comfortable enough to wear for days on end and to ensure you didn't fall in front of everyone." I slipped them off.

"I'll work on walking in them later, now I need to eat and go work on some Ball related work." Thatch kissed the top of my head like he usually did when I gave him something.

"Thanks for the journal. You know I'll use it."

"Thank you for the shoes. I'm sure that they'll fit much better than a ratty pair of trainers."

"Always trying to get you to try new things." He looked back over at his house table and a Durmstrang boy waved at him. He waved back with a soft smile I knew well on his face. "See you later."

"Bye." Thatch walked away from us.

"So, he can get you to wear proper shoes just by giving them to you and you refuse to eat anything we cook." George sniffed with a fake air of offense.

"Yeah, I'm sure that these shoes won't turn me into a bird, either." The fires were so warm I took off my jacket and tied it around my waist before I dug into the food. "Speaking of which, have you two sent that into the Ministry to be patented yet?" The twins shook their heads. I saw George's eyes dart to the pin on my shirt and then to Fred. He gave him a nod and a thumbs up when he thought I wasn't watching. "What was that for?" I looked down at the pin to see if it was doing something mischievous.

"Nothing. George was just applauding my excellent taste." Fred said as he sipped his pumpkin juice. I looked from one to the other a few times as I ate my toast. Neville walked up and sat across from me.

"Hello, Nev, have a good Christmas?" I said as I speared a forkful of bacon strips.

"Hey, I forgot to send this to you last night. I thought you'd like it." He held out a large silver rose blossom. "It's real, but it stays silver for a long time." I took it and put it on top of my shoes in their box.

"Thank you. I have a little something for you too." I pulled out a little pocket guide to common and useful magical plants. He smiled and the doors burst open before he could say anything.

"Where is our little stray pup?" Callum Dragonheart yelled as he walked through the door with his band mates.

"That's the Weird Sisters!" I heard Dean Thomas exclaim. I smiled and slipped on my shoes before running to him. He grabbed me up and spun me around.

"'lo love. See you've rolled out the red carpet for us." He looked around the Great Hall whish was starting to be set up for the dance. There were fairy lights and blue and silver silk banners to create the illusion of a frosted Mediterranean palace.

"Only the best for my favorite rock band." I waved to the twins and said I had to go. I got a glum wave from Fred and George tried to get me to get their autographs. I rolled my eyes and shook my head. "I have a green room set up for you, if you want to put your stuff in there and then roam around. I don't know why the Ministry wanted you to come so early. I can't finish the decorations until breakfast is over."

"You really did all that in there?" The drummer said in disbelief.

"The teachers helped but I planned it, yeah."

"Bloody amazing." I walked with them up the stairs to an empty classroom I had outfitted with couches and cushions. There was a table full of refreshments. I had put my record player up here with my collection for their listening pleasure.

"So here you are. You can go down to Hogsmead if you want, you'll have to walk off school grounds before you apparate though. I figure you knew that already though."

"Why don't we go out and have a snow ball fight?" Callum pulled off his artfully tattered robes and pulled on a fur lined jacket. "I haven't seen this much snow ripe for battle since I was at Hogwarts." I nodded.

"Snow ball fight, alright. Do you all have clothes for it?" There were a couple of negative responses. "Give me a shake and a wink." I ran out of the room to get the supplies.

I came back with arms full of Molly Weasley couture knitted items. There was a mountain of sock and sweaters along with a pile of hats with poms and hats with the scarves attached and hats that had a random dangly bit here and there. We suited up for battle. I led our troupe outside to find my friends waiting to ambush us. I had told them we were going to go out but I didn't expect this many people to show up to fight. Soon enough, I had barricaded myself with the guitar player making snow balls as fast as I could chuck them at the others. I stood up to get a quick lay of the land and was hit full in the face by a large snow ball. I sputtered as the snow stung my face and when I saw the look on Harry's face I burst out laughing.

"That's the way you want to play then, you won't be the boy who lived for long!" I jumped over my snow drift fort and ran at Harry who was tromping through the snow away from me. I jumped on him and we rolled around throwing snow clumps at each other and laughing like we were mad as a pair of hatters.

"Truce, truce!" He yelled. We sat up and I noticed Hermione sitting out from the battle. I dodged through the cross fire and walked up to her, shaking some snow out of my hat. My hair was soaked but I'd fix it before the ball.

"What's up, Hermione?" I sat beside her and took off my snow packed mittens.

"I didn't want to get wet before the ball."

"Viktor's very lucky to have a lass who turned down a snow ball fight with a famous wizard band to stay presentable." I bumped against her lightly to get her to smile.

"How did you know?" I just smiled.

"I know all, see all…" I imitated professor Trelawney with the airy tone and fluttering hand gestures. We both burst out laughing.

"I was hoping that… no it's silly." She looked away at Ron running with George to ambush Callum and Dean Thomas.

"What?"

"Could you… help me get ready? You always have a great taste in clothing."

"I'm not that good, my hair's always a mess."

"I can do my hair, I just wanted to be able to get ready somewhere private and then meet Viktor for a big reveal.

"We can go up to where I hang out, if that's what you mean."

"Thank you. I need to head in and get working with the Sleakeazy for my hair." I scanned the field for Fred's purple hat. He'd stolen it from me last year after Christmas.

"I need to get going on the decorations, shite, what time is it?" I craned my neck to see the giant clock. "It's five already?" Hermione and I got up. "I have to go back in and get some stuff ready. You blokes take care of the band. Don't let them be late or catch a cold, they'll never invite me to a concert again!" The band laughed and I saw Fred stand up just in time to get creamed by snowballs thrown by everyone else.

Ron whined about Hermione leaving to get ready three hours early. "Who're you goin with?" He yelled as Hermione and I walked into the castle arm and arm.

"I'm going to finish the great hall and then I'll be up to the common room."

"Alright." I walked into the Great Hall and gasped. Someone had finished hanging up the silk and as I looked around, they had transformed the tables and put out the gold plates, menus, and centerpieces I had made from luminous holly and candles. My wand was in my hand and I used it to add more tinsel to one of the trees.

"I see you've finally come in from what looked to be a battle royale." Dumbledore walked up beside me and put a hand on my shoulder. "I took it upon myself to finish the decorating for you. Your instructions and diagrams were most helpful."

"Why, Headmaster?" He laughed and swished his wand in the direction of the stage and it grew giant gramophone speakers for the background.

"I rather enjoy balls, and you have been working so hard, I thought a little fun would be exactly what you needed. Now get along and go get ready with your friends."

"Thank you." I hugged him quickly and left.


	25. Goblet of Fire Part 12

"Nora, you look absolutely lovely." Hermione smiled as she finished my makeup. I looked in the vanity mirror I had conjured for the evening.

"Thank you so much. It's because of your makeup wizardry." She laughed and rolled her eyes. "I need to go down and get the band ready." I stood up and wobbled before taking a couple of clunking steps before growling and going to reach to take off my schools.

"One moment, just one more bit of wizardry for you my dear," Hermione pulled her wand out of her bag and ran it along my heels. Instantly, it felt much easier to walk in them. "Now walk normally." I took a step and it felt like I was walking in my regular shoes. I hugged Hermione.

"You are truly the brightest witch of the time." We walked down the steps to the main hall together. "Go meet your Bulgarian Prince Charming." She waved and went to wait for him. I walked to the green room, hoping that the band was in there and not still outside playing in the snow like children. Much to my relief, they were already lounging about looking over the set list I had suggested.

"Don't you look like a heartbreaker?" Callum flipped his long hair out of his face.

"Not as much as you all do in those ripped robes. Did you buy them like that or did you take them from a homeless wizard?" He threw a hand to his forehead, acting faint.

"Why do you treat me so? I bring my bandmates all the way to this school to play for a bunch of teenagers and ministry officials and you offend my fashion sense. I am hurt, truly." I rolled my eyes.

"Get over it, ducks. We have a ball to get on with. Come on, Dumbledore will take care of the instruments."

We walked down to the back room of the Great Hall. I heard Dumbledore announce the feast was to begin and there was a clattering of dishes and utensils. I led the band out to a table that was a little hidden from the main drag, couldn't have the band be mobbed now, could I? I left them to their meal and went to see my friends. Fred was sitting with his back to me but Angelina saw me, her eyes got wide and then a smile spread across her face as she waved. I waved back and went to walk to their table before Draco Malfoy pushed his chair back and hit me. I glared at him.

"Sorry, Black, didn't see you walking there." He sneered. I didn't even dignify that with a response. Thatch waved me over and pulled out a chair for me beside him. He was wearing black dress robes with a silver button shirt and red bow tie that went with his date's red dress robes. I smiled and leaned over Thatch to introduce myself.

"I'm Nora, it's a pleasure to finally be able to meet you in person, I am Anton."

"The pleasure is all mine." His voice was deep and he spoke slowly to pronounce everything correctly. "Thatcher has told me much about you."

"That's funny because he's kept you an enigma to me." I smiled and Thatch rolled his eyes.

"Let's get to eating shall we?" He suggested. "I would like to get to dancing as soon as possible." The clink of silverware and the low thunder of conversation filled the hall. I glanced up to see Harry, Hermione, and Cedric enjoying their meal. Pavarti, on the other hand, looked bored to tears. Harry needed to be a better date to her. I polished off my plate of roast beef and potatoes as Dumbledore gave me the signal to get the band ready. I excused myself and went to the table were the band had piled up dishes and desserts and cups. My shoulders sagged. They were so messy. I straightened my shoulders and walked over to the group of rock stars.

"You ready to play? You have to start out slow for the champions."

"We know, Pup," Callum clapped me on the shoulder. "We're professionals, after all."

"Go on then." I herded them to the side of the stage and then melted into the crowd of kids. I saw Fred and George standing with their dates but I didn't want to go over just yet. Harry and Pavarti danced with the other champions and I noticed that he was being expertly led around like a show dog by his date. After a few turns, other people joined in like Neville and Ginny. I saw Ron sit grumpily with Padma at a table. Thatch and Anton were gracefully waltzing around with smiles on their face and didn't notice the sideways looks they were getting from other students. The Durmstrang boys, however, hardly paid attention to them. I was too busy watching the other ball attendees that I didn't notice a boy from Beauxbatons move next to me.

"Would zou care zo dance?" I looked at him.

"Me?" He nodded and held out a hand. I took it and he expertly led me to the floor. He bowed to me and I curtsied. He moved with a grace I had never known as we swept through the crowd in a wide circle.

"Zou look very lovely, zis evening."

"Thank you, you look dashing as well." The song ended and the band played a rocking song. The boy and I danced around wildly, punching the air and I flipped my hair around. Soon, we had a whole group of people dancing. My cheeks were flushed and my head light as I left the group to get a drink. Harry and Ron were sitting at a table by themselves. I walked over with a cup of punch.

"You two are looking very lively." I sat down beside Harry and slurped from my delicate china cup.

"You seem to be enjoying yourself." Ron muttered. I leaned around Harry to answer him.

"I am, Ron, you would too if you got up and danced instead of moping like a dog with your tail between your legs." His face screwed up in frustration as he tried to think of a clever retort. Hermione walked over in her lovely Periwinkle robes.

"Hot, isn't it?" She smiled and sat beside Ron. "Viktor's gone to get drinks."

"Don't you mean, _Vicky_?" Ron sneered. I stood up when a slow song began. I wanted to dance with Fred and tell him something very important.

"Don't call him that…." I walked away from the lovers' quarrel. I saw Fred walking away from the crowd of people and knew it was my chance. It was the perfect moment. He looked at me and smiled. I rushed over to him but tripped on a chair leg and landed heavily upon the floor with the air knocked out of me. Fred kneeled down and helped me up. I dusted off my dress and flipped my hair out of my face.

"Guess that dramatic moment was ruined." I held out my arms for him to admire my dress. Sirius had sent me a sheer silver cocktail dress with purple embroidery and blue poms in lines down the skirt. My gloves went perfectly with them and my shoes were spot on.

"Would you like to dance?" I nodded and he pulled me to the floor and had a hand on my waist and the other still entwined in my hand.

"I want to tell you something." He slowed our pace and I swallowed my nerves so I could go on with my speech. "I'm reckless, and think I'm cleverer than I really am. I'm a smartass and I'm damaged. I didn't think you should have to put up with all of my problems." He went to say something but stopped to let me finish. "But you were my best friend even though I'm barking mad and I feel safe with you. I used to feel all twisted inside because I fought the way I felt about you. I don't do that anymore. I know you like me, even though I was cruel to you. I know we'll fight, I know we'll get angry at each other but I don't care because I know you'll always be my friend and nothing will change that. I really like kissing you, I love holding your hand. Being near you is what I want. Whether or not you feel the same, I'll be happy because I've told you how I feel and that's what I needed to do from the start."

"Are you done? I don't want to interrupt you." I nodded. "Good." He put his hands on the sides of my face and kissed me. I grabbed onto the lapels of his dress robes and pulled him closer. I heard people cheering near us and we pulled away to look around. I turned scarlet when I realized they were cheering at us. Fred let his hands drop to my hips and I smirked as he smiled at me. My lipstick has smeared off onto his lips and took my glove off before wiping it away with my thumb.

"There's no retreat now, everyone will know by the end of the ball." I pulled my glove back on before resuming our dance.

"That's fine with me. Maybe it'll keep the blokes away from you for a change." I noticed a tone of genuine relief.

"Why Freddie, I believe you're jealous." I rolled his eyes and the song changed. Angelina, George, and his date came over and we all danced around so wildly that we were given a wide gap of space from the other dancers. I hardly noticed when Angelina was whisked away by another boy or when George and his date went to somewhere a little more private. I kept waiting for Fred to ask me to go snog in the rose bushes but he never did. We only danced. As it grew closer to the conclusion of the ball, Fred and I were just swaying back and forth holding onto each other. I wasn't even tired, just so relaxed being able to know that I had told Fred how I felt and that he accepted everything about me without trying to change me.

Dumbledore dismissed us. I told Fred I'd meet him back in the common room after I finished helping the band pack up. They gave me hugs before heading out to hitch a ride on the Knight Bus from Hogsmead. The halls were silent as I walked back to the common room, my heels clicked against the floor. I hummed quietly and thought about Fred with a stupid grin on my face. I stopped when I heard someone talking angrily.

"_Severus, _we could recruit her for our side, she's a powerful witch."

"She is a child, a stupidly loyal child to her father and her friends."

"But she is a _Black_, they have been a large part of You-Know-Who's army before. I've been watching her. She is much further along than her peers." I knew the voice belonged to Karkoroff. Snape made an annoyed sound.

"_He_ is not back for sure and you're already recruiting students from my own school, I will not listen to this." I heard Snap walk towards me. I looked around wildly for a hiding spot but found none. I tried to look like I hadn't heard anything and was just fiddling with the strap on my shoe. "Shouldn't you be in bed, Black?" His lip curled as he looked at me.

"I was on my way, sir, I had to see that the band was packed and out the door."

"Well then, get on your way."

"Of course, Professor Snape." I stood up and walked past him.

"And Black," I turned. "Your work on the tournament has been… acceptable." He struggled with a word that wasn't too kind.

"Thank you." I ran up the steps, narrowly missing the step that sucked your leg in to the knee. In the common room, Fred was sitting in front of the fire, leaning on his hand propped on the arm. He was asleep. I kissed his cheek before sitting beside him. I kicked off my shoes and he opened his eyes. I pulled my loose, wild hair out of my face and held it off my hot neck. Fred put his arm around my shoulders and I leaned against him. I sighed and watched the flames flicker.

"We really should go to bed." He pushed my hair aside and gently rubbed his thumb up and down on the soft skin of my neck. "But I don't want this night to end." He confessed quietly.

"It won't." We walked to the steps of the girls' dormitory. My shoes dangled from my hand and I was back to being much shorter than him. He looked down at me and grinned.

"What?" I reached up and brushed a lock of his red hair behind his ear.

"I am just very, very happy. Happy people smile." He kissed my cheek and straightened back up. "You should get to bed, we've had a full day." I nodded.

"Goodnight, Freddie." He held onto my hand as I walked up a few steps before turning. "What?"

"May I kiss you once more?" I nodded and he tilted his body forward. I glanced over his serene face with his eyes closed and didn't hesitate anymore to brush my lips against his.

The next day ushered in a new atmosphere, there was the usual post-Christmas lag but when I got ready, I had a smile on my lips thinking about Freddie waiting for me before we went to breakfast. I wore an excessively large set of petticoats over a vibrant violet dress and tied my hair up in a bun secured with a little magic and a hair pin from Sirius. I put on my charm bracelet that hardly ever left my side before walking out of the dormitory. The common room was quiet, everyone else was either still asleep or down at breakfast. Someone jumped out from beside the stairwell and I crushed my squeak when I saw it was just Fred.

"One day you're going to do that, and I'm going to hex you. You're just lucky I didn't have my wand out."

"Such a threat, if you weren't so happy about seeing me, I'd almost think you meant it."

"Let's go, you sod. I need to do more school work today."

"School work, schmool work. We must go out and enjoy the snow while its here."

"Freddie…" I whined as we walked down the stairs.

"Don't Freddie me, I've put my foot down and we must have some fun before you get swept up into the tournament tasks again."

"Fine, we'll see after breakfast. I'm not promising I'll go out with you. I have my reputation as a heart breaker to keep up." He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and smirked.

"Oh, dear, sweet, kind, Renora, you're reputation was ruined long ago after you started hanging around my brother and I." We laughed and walked around the corner. I bumped into someone and tripped. Fred caught me.

"Neville?" He was scrambling around to scoop up a pile of dirt into a clay pot.

"S-s-sorry, Nora." I dropped to my knees and helped him clean up.

"Why are we using our hands? Get your wand out, Nev." He fumbled for his wand and gripped it tightly. I had slipped mine out of my sleeve and pointed it at the dirt. Neville followed suit. "You're going to twirl your wand like its making a tornado and say _Mundarus._ Got it? You try it." Neville looked unsure but I nodded at him. "You've got this." Fred kneeled down beside me.

"Yeah, Neville, you can do it." His hand rested on my back. A nice spot of warmth through my clothes.

"_Mundarus." _Neville succeeded in getting half of the dirt in the pot but half of it just blew around. He had the most embarrassed look on his face as a couple more students walked past.

"Good job! Just try again to round up the rest of it." His rosy cheeks made it obvious he was frustrated but he looked at me and sighed. This time, he got all the dirt back in the pot and I noticed little green plants sprout before my eyes.

"Thanks," Neville picked up his pot and looked at the plants.

"What are those?" I stood up on my tip toes to see over the rim of the big pot.

"They're flash flowers. Grow every day to bloom and then decompose at night to grow again the next day."

"Did Professor Sprout give them to you?" Fred asked as we all marveled at the tiny curling stems straightened before our eyes.

"Me gran sent me the seeds yesterday, I just went down to get the pot and soil." I nodded, impressed.

"They look really interesting, I want to see them bloom some time." My stomach growled and I laughed. "But right now it seems I need to go eat." I squeezed Neville's arm to tell him goodbye.

"You're really amazing, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you should've been in Hufflepuff." My hand gravitated towards Fred's as we walked and my fingers loosely intertwined with his.

"I'm just nice. I'm far from everyone's friend."

"You'd be surprised how popular you are. Almost to George and I's level." I elbowed him in the ribs and his hand held onto mine tighter. "That's how it's going to be?" I pulled away from him and ran down the hallway a ways.

"Yes, and what are you going to do about it, Weasley?" I stuck my tongue out at him and took off running through the halls and down the stairs.

"You can run but you can't hide!" I ducked behind a statue in an alcove and watched Fred look around for me. I held my breath and waited for him to get into position before I pounced on him and we tumbled to the floor in a fit of cackles. My many petticoat layers spilled around us and I leaned down and gave Fred a sickenly sweet eskimo kiss which he scrunched his nose at.

"The bloody hell was that?" He chided teasingly. "I want a proper kiss." I shook my head in mock refusal.

"What's going on here?" Moody stood over us. His wild eye didn't look any less spastic from this angle. "You two carrying on like a couple of Poltergeists with all this poppycock." He grumbled as he swigged something out of a flask.

"Little early for that kind of potion, isn't it, Professor?" Fred said as he tucked his arms behind his head. I watched the professor's face. I knew it wasn't the real Mad-Eye, but I needed more proof than my own gut feeling.

"Black, Weasley, get on, no need to be dawdling in the halls anyway." There was an awful screech that rang through the hall and Peeves came bouncing into view.

"You called for a poltergeist, Professor doody moody." Peeves held onto the toes of his turned up shoes. I winked at him and he acted overly sheepish. "Here I am, reporting for duty, doody." While Moody was distracted by the ghostly menace's shenanigans, Fred and I snuck away to eat breakfast.

We sat down in the middle of a group of glum looking first years who had been talking about not being able to go to the ball.

"You didn't miss much. Just a bunch of prats acting like they knew how to dance." I said between mouthfuls of toast. "Really didn't miss anything."

"You're one to talk, Nora, everyone knows you're going with Fred now." Fred snorted his pumpkin juice causing peals of laughter to echo through the hall.

"Well, guess news travels faster than the Knight Bus around here." I went back to eating.

When I was done, the group of first years had flitted away to go spread more gossip and Fred held his stomach like he was too full of food to function. "I don't know where you just put all of the food you just inhaled." The large doors opened before I could touch them. Malfoy stood on the other side, his smile slid from his face.

"See you're out on a date with your own personal Weasley." I wouldn't let him make me mad.

"What's it to you, Ferret?" He scowled. Crabbe and Goyle stood behind him like his own personal trolls.

"It's funny really, Potter and Black have latched onto the Weasleys. Not marrying for money, are you? There's hardly enough to go around to begin with." Malfoy turned to laugh with his posse and I lunged at him. Fred had his arms wrapped around me and drug me away. I fought his hold until we were far enough away I wouldn't get to Draco.

"What was that about?" I crossed my arms and glared at Fred.

"It's just Malfoy, he's not worth it, and you already broke his nose once." I noticed his ears and neck were red, he was angry, too.

"You're mad about it! Should have just let me take care of him…" I pouted in a very mature fashion by tucking my arms tighter against me and looking down and away.

"We'll get him back, in our own way." I sighed and walked away. He caught up with me quickly. "Why are you mad?" His hand on my elbow didn't make me mad, his asking me why I was mad, did. I jerked my arm away too quickly.

"I'm not mad." My tone made it clear I was. He raised an eyebrow at me and gave me a look that told me to spill my guts.

"Really? Because you are a bloody marvelous actress then." I huffed and walked up the steps.

"I don't like that they can say that stuff about you and you're family."

"We can handle the Malfoys, we've been doing it for years. What's got your tail in a knot?" We were pressed up against the wall in an alcove. I looked into his eyes and chewed my lip.

"I want to protect you. From everything cruel, and dark. I want you to be happy and safe." He laughed and tucked some of my wild hair behind one of my ears.

"You're a little guard dog, you know that. I'm far from a china doll, darling." I giggled as he flexed his arm muscles that were hidden under his sweater. "See, I like it much better when you smile." Freddie kissed my nose and took my hand. "I seem to remember you making plans with me for after breakfast."

"After my homework gets a dent in it, then we will revisit the snow day. I must be above reproach by the Ministry, with the last two tasks coming up, they'll be watching me closer than ever to make sure I'm not cheating."

"I thought cheating was part of the tradition."

"It is, but could you imagine the hell that would go down if that got out? I can see the headline now. 'Black infiltrates Ministry' 'Black and Potter cheating streak continued'." Fred grabbed my hands that I was using as air quotes and stopped me outside the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"You really need to stop worrying so much about what the Ministry, Prophet, and anyone else for that matter thinks about you. What matters is that you like the person you are." I nodded we looked at the Fat Lady who was sniffling.

"That was the cutest thing I've ever seen." I pressed my face into Fred's side and smiled.

"We've upset a picture, I think we need to tone down our affection." I mumbled as I inhaled the scent of his cologne. Fred was looking down at me when I pulled away.

"Did you just sniff me?" I turned red and the portrait opened, George walked out with Lee and they both noticed the flush of my cheeks.

"Morning." George grinned at me and poked me in the ribs teasingly. "See you two have already had a full morning."

"Not particularly." I flipped my hair over my shoulder and walked into the common room. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sitting in front of the fire place. I had left my books in a cabinet in the corner because carrying them upstairs when I was just going to use them again so soon. Fred and I sat in an over-stuffed love seat and he watched me scowl while working on Divination homework. I ended up only finishing part of the holiday assignment and shoved it in the book before moving on to charms. I couldn't concentrate on that either.

"Stop staring at me, Freddie." He was leaning on the arm of the couch still looking at me with a bemused expression. "It's putting me off."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm only watching the way to run your quill against your nose when you're thinking and the way your forehead always furrows even when you know what you're doing."

"I am pretty irresistible that way." I caught myself rubbing my quill against the bridge of my nose and stopped immediately. I heard him let out a small sigh and got a quick glimpse at him. He was itching for something to do.

"I heard George say something about some new plans for some pranks, why don't you go work on those for a bit? I'll take a while here." I saw he was conflicted. Finally, his boredom won out and he kissed my forehead before leaving to go to the bathroom we'd taken over as our headquarters. I kicked off my shoes and stretched out my legs. I yanked my Walkman out of my backpack and put the headphones on to concentrate on the work.

When I came back to the world after a long vacation in the world of arithmancy, Fred and George were still gone and Ron was asleep with his care of magical creatures book in front of him. I slammed my book shut, causing several people to jump but Ron stayed asleep. I went up to my room and changed into clothes that were more acceptable to tromp in the snow with. I wanted to send a letter to Sirius. Andi was curled on my pillow I stroked her feathers and she buried her head deeper under her wing, she must have had a long night, too. Flouncing back down the stairs in trousers, my newest Weasley sweater and hat, I starting singing out loud.

"_She's like the first girl on this earth that you want to touch."_ I hummed and danced through the common room. "_And she sees me running."_ Everyone looked at me, some with smiles, others with concern for my sanity. Short trip to madness, it seems.

"I leave you alone for a few hours and come back to find you serenading about another girl? You certainly changed your tune fast." Fred and George had crawled through the portrait hole.

"You must be devastated." I smirked.

"Absolutely. George, I don't think I'll be able to go on with living after this tragedy, hold me." He collapsed into his brother's arms and sobbed dramatically.

"George, since your brother seems to be indisposed, would you care to escort me outside to play in the snow?" Fred was dropped to the floor with a loud thump and George stepped over him, holding out his hand.

"Of course," We exited the common room with Fred on our heels. "Are we going to share a warm butterbeer afterwards?" George threw a look at Fred who just rolled his eyes.

"That sounds wonderful." I wrapped my arm around George's waist. "We'll go take a nice walk in the snow, and share a butterbeer. You'll get a little foam on your lip and I'll ever so romantically wipe it off…" Fred burst between us.

"I know you two are just kidding but I can't take it." His hand pressed against my back and the heat seeped through my clothes. I pulled his down and kissed his cheek.

"You know you're the only redhead for me… besides Charlie." Fred poked me in the ribs. "Alright, you're even before Charlie but you need to grow your hair out longer if you want to jump in front of Bill." George was smiling as Freddie was getting flustered.

Andi chose that moment to fly into my chest in a comical explosion of feathers. I had been letting her watch old comedy movies and she had taken them to heart. I held me and she stuck her beak out with a limp note in her beak. I took it and tossed her into the air where she did some fancy flying to woo the audience before heading off on her next adventure. I peeled the note open, it was from Hagrid. The ink was tear stained and had soaked the paper. I felt my neck grow hot as I read it. The twins tried to read over my shoulder but I put it away.

"I have to go," I started running for a secret passage.

"Nora!" Fred yelled. "What's wrong?"

"We have an infestation."

I stormed out to Hagrid's hut, my face and neck red. The door banged open before I touched it with my outstretched hand.


	26. Goblet of Fire part 13

Albus Dumbledore stood before me, a giant wet spot on the shoulder of his powder blue robes and I heard someone blow their nose like a fog horn.

"I expected to see you, but not this quickly."

"I was in a hurry," the headmaster let me into the house. I walked up to my guardian. "Hey Hagrid." He was curled over, shoulders shaking with sobs. I wrapped my arms around his neck and buried my face in his bushy hair. His arms wrapped around me and I let him cry.

For a large man, Hagrid expressed his emotions in proportion to his size. I wanted to skin Rita Skeeter. The paper was on the table and I could just barely make out the article spilling Hagrid's biggest secret. I tried to focus on comforting Hagrid, I could get angry later but getting angry right now would help absolutely nothing. Remus would be so proud, me holding in my anger like I was. Hagrid kept blubbering things about how he didn't know how she could have found out about his mu being a giantess.

"Did you tell anyone where she may have overheard?" I asked gently.

"No! I only told…" He covered his face with his massive hands and sobbed.

"Olympe?" I mouthed to Dumbledore and he nodded. I hugged Hagrid and tried to punch down my anger and keep my sharp tongue contained because it would not help anything right now and Hagrid's emotional state would not be bettered.

When I got back to the common room I had had enough of holding my tongue and had thoroughly stewed over how angry I was at Rita Skeeter and Madame Maxime. Fred and George were sitting on one of the couches, their knees bouncing with agitation. Fred saw me and jumped up to walk over to me. I nodded towards the portrait and he followed me back into the hall. Without a word, I took his hand and pulled him to a hidden balcony.

I wrapped my arms around him and pressed my face into his jumper. I didn't want to cry but the tears came out anyway. Fred just kept his arms around me and put his chin on the top of my head. When I was done, I wiped my eyes and pulled away to talk to him.

"Hagrid is having some problems… Rita Skeeter wrote an article about him being half giant. It's absolute rubbish she's saying, Hagrid may be half giant but he's the gentlest soul that ever lived." Fred nodded. "She had to talk to that giantess Madame Maxime even though she refuses to acknowledge that normal people don't grow to be taller than Hagrid. Dumbledore said he'll take care of it but I think it's hitting Hagrid harder than that. He's drinking to drown his sorrow and Dumbledore's down there with him but I don't want to leave him alone but I need to work on the next task of the tournament and I don't want to stop spending time with you and there's just so much to think about." I realized that the last part of my speech had hastened to where my voice was tight and hysterical. I turned away and gripped the railing, the cold metal biting my hands as I squeezed.

"Renora." Fred brushed my hair behind my ear and I pressed my face into his sweater, my snot and tears soaking into his jumper. "It's okay, love. It's okay." He held me close and rocked me back and forth.

"I don't know how it will be. He will be hurting for so long and people will turn on him."

"He will, and they might, but that's not going to be helped by you working yourself into a fit. I know your greatest character flaw is caring too much but maybe this time, you should just be present for him, be there for him to lean on but don't try to fix all of his problems." I looked up at him and gave him a small smile. His eyes softened and he used his thumbs to wipe away the remaining tears on my cheeks. "Come on, it's freezing out here."

* * *

"Nora, are you listening to me?" I dropped the moon charm Fred had given me and looked back up at Ludo.

"What were you saying about the lake?"

"We're going to be putting students at the bottom of the lake."

"No you're not." I stood up from the table in Ludo's temporary office.

"We are, it's the whole basis of the task." I shook my head.

"I'm not putting my friends at the bottom of a lake."

"They may not be your friends…" I shot Ludo a venomous look.

"I'm not having Harry go for a chilly dip in the black lake in February, either." Ludo pinched the bridge of his nose.

"It will be perfectly safe, I have the professors here working on the right charms and protections. Everyone will be fine." I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes.

"This tournament has claimed lives before and that's where I draw the line. The dragons were bad enough but now I might not only drown the champions, but also other people?"

"I'm asking you to do what the tournament requires." This was the most stern I'd ever seen Ludo.

"I will set up the task but you will not put my friends down there."

"What if we put a time limit on it?" I tensed my jaw.

"That doesn't make it any better."

"What if you go down there when the time is up and save anyone who is lost?"

"Getting closer but I'm not sold that this is great."

"Nora, you have to do this, it's required of you as part of your service for the Ministry."

"What's your deal, first you were fine with me having my freedom to do what I wanted and now you're strong arming me into putting my friends in danger."

"I have been instructed by the Ministry after the slight incident at the Yule Ball regarding the Weird Sisters' behavior that I may have given you too much leash." I sighed.

"You make me sound like I'm your guard dog. They're a rock band, they're going to be a little wild."

"I know, you are preaching to the choir on the matter but I need to keep my nose clean in these changing times. So please just follow my commands to the letter and do not put up a fight on this." I crossed my arms and sat back down at the table and looked over the sheaves of parchment with the specifications of the second task on them. My teeth ground together when I read that the champions would have one person important to each of them taken and hidden in the Black Lake. It made the hair on my arms stand up thinking about them being down there for that long. I swam in the lake with the giant squid but that was in the shallows and usually Thatch or Gisborne accompanied me to make sure I didn't get absconded with by the deep and dark creepy crawlers.

"Alright, I'll do it, as long as I'm allowed to retrieve them as soon as the hour is past."

"Sounds like a great plan to me."

* * *

I was lying on a couch in the common room, Fred was reading a textbook on the floor below me. Thinking about the tournament, I absently ran my fingers through his hair as I stared at the ceiling.

_Hermione, Ron, Cho, and Gabrielle. _ Those were the people I would have to collect come time for the task and I could not get them out of my head. Every time I saw them, that's all I could think about. I had dreams about seeing them floating under the muted light in the Black Lake surrounded by the dark creatures and mysteries that lurked beneath the surface. I was staring off into the distance with my headphones on so I didn't hear anything. Fred leaned over me and I jumped.

"What?" I leaned up and put my headphones around my neck. Fred sat down beside me.

"I asked you when we were going to run away together and have an unfathomable amount of illegitimate children together after asking you when you wanted to go down and get something to eat from the kitchens roughly a thousand times."

"Well, to answer both questions, soon. I want all of our children to have the last name Black and rebuild my bloodline with better spawn." I stood up and stretched. I saw Hermione talking to Harry with a frustrated expression, she said something about his egg and I sighed, Harry still hadn't figured it out. "I'm also incredibly famished." I stood up and stretched, still watching Harry and Hermione argue. I couldn't get involved. I had to keep telling myself that.

Fred took my hand as we walked through the secret passages to the kitchens.

"Penny for your thoughts?" He murmured. I shook my head.

"The price for my thoughts is much higher than you can afford, Mr. Weasley." Fred nodded with a sad smile. I bumped my shoulder against his side and tried to make that look go away from his face.

"You are really preoccupied about the task, aren't you?" I nodded and we were at the kitchen doors.

"Yes, but now I'm preoccupied with eating my weight in whatever food lies behind this door." I pushed past him and into the nearly empty kitchen. A few house elves scrubbed the floor and I heard the clatter of a few pans. The humidity from cooking made my hair start to frizz out of control a beads of sweat pop up on my neck.

"Oh it is Miss or and her Wheezy!" Dobby jumped for joy at the sight of us.

"Hello, Dobby." He was wearing his ever-impressive assortment of clothing items as he ran towards us.

"What can we get for you tonight?" His high pitched voice use to grate my nerves but now there was a certain charm about it probably stemming from the constant enthusiasm and happiness he displayed.

"I want a beef sandwich with chips and a pumpkin juice, what about you, Freddie?"

"Same for me." Dobby smiled and ran off to get our food. In a wink and a shake, Dobby was back with our food wrapped in paper and our drinks in thermoses. It was now a ritual for Freddie and I to take our food and eat it in my hide away.

"Bye, Dobby." Fred and I called as we walked out of the steamy kitchen.

"Goodbye Nora Black and her Wheezy!"

Fred kept acting like he wanted to talk about something while we were eating and I would stop and look at him, watching him formulate his sentences and then watch him just shake his head slightly and resume eating. I didn't know what I wanted him to say, just that I wanted him to say something reassuring even though he had no idea what was taking over my every moment. I was so scared that someone was going to die on my watch during the next task.

Fred walked me back to the portrait of the Fat Lady. He gave me a hug and held on for not nearly as long as I wanted before stepping back.

"I think I'm going to go work on some orders, you should go get some rest, because tomorrow I'm sure the Ministry will have you running ragged again." He shoved his hand in his pockets and walked away down the hall. I sighed. I did not have the experience to deal with brokenhearted boys right now.

* * *

I had been stressing about the second task for weeks and tomorrow it was going to be here. Fred had sensed that, I think, because he had been leaving me to my own devices lately and I missed him but I focused on the tournament and that made things a little easier.

Right now though, I was watching him from across the common room work on writing up new product descriptions for the catalogue. I needed his help. My legs carried me to him faster than I thought they would. He looked up at me and sat his papers aside. I saw he had a smudge of ink on his cheek. I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tightly.

"Nora, what's going on?" He asked quietly and I just held him. His hand found the back of my neck and pressed me to him.

"I… need to ask you to do something tonight and it will not be easy."

"You know I never like doing anything easy."

"Grab George, we'll need him, too." Fred nodded.

He grabbed George and we walked out of the common room.

"What's up?" He asked once we were safely in the secret passage.

"I need you to take Hermione and Ron to Dumbledore's office. They're both in the library with Harry."

"That's all? That's easy."

"They're going to be put in the Black Lake and the champions are going to have to collect them within an hour."

"That's bloody ridiculous, is this why you've been acting so barking mad lately? Of course it is. You must be a right mess." Fred pulled at his hair exasperatedly. "Here I was thinking you were pulling away from _me._" I groaned.

"No, you bloody idiot. I have been a little preoccupied, yes, but not with some other boy if that's what you've been worrying about you prat." We got to the library doors. "We'll talk about this later, just please don't tell Hermione or Ron what's going on and get them to the Headmaster's office as soon as possible, I have to get two others." I walked away down the hall and pulled out the Marauders Map to find Cho Chang and Fleur's little sister.

I found Gabrielle first.

"Bonjour, Gabrielle." I curtsied to her animatedly as she curtsied back.

"Have yoz brought yourz bird?" I whistled one short shrill burst and Andi appeared in a puff of flame. Gabrielle clapped happily.

"Gabrielle, I need you to come with me to the headmaster's office. It's for your sister's next task in the tournament." She nodded as Andi curled in her arms. She hadn't been that spoiled for a while.

"Of Courze." She took my hand as we went in search of Cho. The map said she was with Ced in the courtyard I had to wait to get her alone. I took Gabrielle to Dumbledore where Hermione and Ron were already waiting, and went back down to stalk Cho Chang. Harry would be jealous. I walked through the corridor overlooking the young couple who had hidden themselves under the drooping braches of a willow. I wanted to hurl when I saw them snogging as hard as they were. I hoped that Fred and I were more discreet than that, not that we'd done much snogging lately. I could see why she was the most important person in Ced's scope right now at school.

After an eternity, they parted lips and then parted ways. I casually bumped into Cho when she came around the corner.

"Hello, Nora."

"Hi Cho! I was actually just looking for you. Can you come with me to Dumbledore's office? It's for Ced and the next task."

"Of course." I walked her up to the office and stood in silent resolve as Dumbledore explained what was going to happen to each of them the next day. Gabrielle ran to me and hugged me tightly, she was so scared. I took a knee and dried her eyes with my sleeve.

"I know this is very scary, _mon Cherie_, but I promise you that nothing will go wrong. I will be waiting to save you the moment the clock rings the hour is up. You must be brave." She sniffed once and then nodded. My friends all looked at me, the same silent fear in their eyes. "That goes for all of you. If for some reason your champion does not succeed in saving you, I will be monitoring and extracting you as soon as the hour has passed." I smoothed Gabrielle's hair and all four of the students were put under the sleeping spell. I would go out early tomorrow morning to place them in the lake.

Andi was perched on my shoulder as I walked to the Gryffindor common room slowly. I was emotionally and physically exhausted. I heard two men arguing heatedly and rolled my eyes. I was always the one to overhear these disagreements that were always somehow related to my heritage and innate dark side that I have repressed this long.

"He is rising again, don't you see? The call has been sent out." I pressed against the wall and hoped that the people would not be walking my way.

"I see only the mad ramblings of a fool, shouldn't you be getting your champion ready for the next task?" It was getting really hard to keep defending Snape when he kept acting this way.

"My champion is ready, Harry Potter is the one you should be worrying about, Severus. Seeing as you have such a soft spot for the boy." More like a moldy rotten spot but sure, a soft works as well.

"I have no need to assist the boy in cheating, Professor Moody has taken quite a shine to him so I have no doubt Potter is well equipped for the task."

"We will see, Severus, we will see." The two men's voices were getting further away and I released my breath.

"Bloody hell."


	27. Goblet of Fire part 14

Fred was waiting for me when I got back to the common room. Everyone else had gone to bed. The task tomorrow had caused the normal buzz of excitement but it was very late.

"Everything ready?" I nodded and flopped into the nearest chair and pulled the hair pins to release my wild hair and admired them in my hand. Sirius had good taste in gifts. Fred sat down on my lap like an overgrown kid. He was so much taller than me that his chin rested on my head and I leaned against him. "You know everything will be okay, right? Nothing is going to happen to them. All they have to do is swim in the Black Lake. You and I have done that plenty of times and look at us, we're fine."

"You were almost drowned by a grindylow last spring and George stepped on a cluster of aquatic stinging nettles."

"Minor Injuries." I envied how he could always find the silver lining. Didn't he realize that this was real life? That I had just put four innocent people in danger for some game the Ministry played?

"I should go to bed." He pressed his hand against my face and brushed his thumb against my cheek.

"Yeah, but will you sleep?"

"Probably not but you need to go to sleep. I'm sure you and George are going to get up early to start taking bets on the task." I yawned and Fred got up pulling me up with him.

"I give up sleep for you more than you know, Renora." He hugged me.

"You really shouldn't do that, I hear if you want to be a healthy functioning wizard you should get the proper amount of sleep."

"I'll take that into consideration as soon as you start going to bed at a reasonable hour." He kissed me on the forehead and we parted ways.

I slept fitfully, plagued by nightmares of losing my friends. As soon as the sky turned to a lighter shade of grey, I dressed in my swimming outfit and pulled on a wool coat and pants. I took my boots downstairs to the common room to tie them.

"Nora Black!" Dobby appeared in front of me and I slammed into the back of the chair in surprise. "Dobby is very sorry to have startled you, Miss Nora." He squeaked and I relaxed.

"It's okay, Dobby, I'm just wound a little tightly right now. What do you need?" He wrung his hands nervously and looked around. "We're alone Dobby, what is it?"

"Dobby fears he has done a terrible terrible thing, miss." The door elf was shaking like a leaf in a hurricane.

"What is it, Dobby, what have you done." He looked around quickly before pulling something that looked like a tangle of slimy green worms out of his pocket. "Gillyweed? Where did you get that?"

"Professor Moody tricked Dobby into stealing it. Dobby did not know it was Professor Snape's when he took it. Dobby only did it to save Harry Potter."

"Because it will let him breathe underwater, of course he didn't figure anything out, bloody procrastinating wanker." I sighed. "Dobby, you did well, Moody is a tricky git. I need you to give that to Harry when he's alone today before the task. I'm trusting you to do this, alright?" Dobby nodded excitedly.

"Dobby understands his important mission."

"Good. I need to get going to set up for the task.

"Nora Black, Dobby has one more thing." I had taken a few steps away from him and turned around. "Your Wheezy is a very good Wheezy, he cares about you very much."

"Thank you, Dobby." I slipped out of the common room and walked down the hallway, my boot heels echoing in the silent halls.

I was to meet Ludo at the edge of the Lake. The sun was a white smudge on the horizon and Ludo was rubbing the sleep from his eyes when I met him. The water lapped against the shore loudly and I shivered thinking about having to go in it on this cold day. Dumbledore was making his way down the hill from school with the judges and a line of floating gurneys that contained the jinxed bodies of the students.

"Goodmorning, Headmaster." I said and my eyes never left the pale bodies of my friends floating beside him.

"Everything will be fine, Nora. I assure you that the temporary paralysis will hold until the champions save them."

"Or I get them."

"Or that, yes." Dumbledore waved his wand and small paddle boat rose from the shallows of the lake covered in the plants and barancles that would be characteristic for a long forgotten vessel. It slipped through the water to us quickly. "Ludo, if you'll take the students out to place them." Ludo pulled out his wand and the gurneys moved to be behind us. I stepped onto the boat and Ludo followed. We floated away from the shore and off into the mist of the early morning.

"Where are we going? I can steer the boat and you can focus on keeping the kids floating."

"The boat knows where to go." I looked at Ludo and he shrugged. I cast another glance at the bodies floating behind the boat. After a few minutes of silent travel, the boat stopped and I took off my jacket and jeans. I could tell that the water was freezing and shook my limbs to try and get some warmth in them. "What charm are you going to use to stay under, I would recommend the bubble head charm." I nodded.

"Yeah," I jumped into the water and squealed. It bit at my skin and I knew I would need several warm butterbeers to warm up again after this. "How deep do you want me take them?" Ludo brought Ron down to me and I pulled him into the water with me. He was surprisingly light.

"To the bottom. The merpeople should help you. You know how to talk to them, right?"

"No, I don't! That's something that would have been nice to know before I'm neck deep in bloody freezing water, _Ludo." _I took a breath and gritted my teeth.

"It should be fine, Dumbledore told them what was going on, you'll be fine, if you have any issues, send up red sparks and I'll come help." That wasn't reassuring. I'd seen him get winded walking to dinner one night.

"Okay, I'll be back up quickly." I latched onto Ron's stiff hand and dove down. I pulled my wand out and put the bubble head charm over my head and propelled myself deeper into the dark water. I used my wand to illuminate my path. I swore I saw end of tentacles or massive fish tails whip out of sight at the edges of the light. I came upon the submerged ruins of an ancient world. Here the darkness fought back against the light. I heard hisses and the water churned around my feet. A chill raced up my spine and I felt the hairs rise up on the back of my neck as I found four exceptionally long pieces of seaweed jutted out from the center of a stone courtyard. I flicked my wrist and made a globe of light float around me as I tucked my wand away into my arm harness. I tied Ron's ankle securely with the seaweed and swam back up to the surface. As soon as my face broke the surface so did the bubble face charm. I gasped for breath and wiped the murky water out of my eyes.

I held onto the side of the boat and caught my breath.

"That was quick." Ludo had sat down and was still levitating the remaining three.

"Don't jinx this. I have a case of butterbeer calling my name before the tournament starts." I grabbed Gabrielle and repeated the process. This time I knew exactly where to go except that when I cast out several globes of light to make the job go faster, my ears were accosted with vile screeches and I sucked the globes back into my wand. As I floated in the darkness I felt something move closer to me. A webbed hand reached out and touched the delicate floating bubble that was supplying me with air. It didn't seem as protective as the mermaid caressed it. I noted that her molted fingers were tipped with claws. My breath was shaky but I had to remember to keep calm.

"You are a guest here, witch, remember that." Her watery voice chilled me to the bone. I nodded and finished tying Gabrielle's ankle before shooting up faster to the surface. Without talking to Ludo, I grabbed Hermione and dove straight for the seaweed. I tied her ankle and stopped when I felt something gently wrap around my ankle.

Remus had taught me much about aquatic creatures but even he said that he didn't know everything that haunted the Black Lake. Hagrid even consented to not knowing what mysteries lurked in the depths of the water. I shot out another orb of light, this time down ward to see a giant tentacle caressing my leg. I tried to make my body as limb as possible, squid don't like their prey already dead, I hoped. The tentacle tightened for a moment but I fought hard against reacting even though I was sure it had to feel my pulse pounding. After what felt like an eternity, the tentacle disappeared back into the darkness and I felt the current as something massive moved away, causing the algae to spin in cyclones with it. I exhaled and made sure Hermione was secure before heading up to get Cho and be done with this terrible task for now. Ludo was close to drifting off when I got to the surface. I grabbed Cho like some devilish water demon and slipped back into the depths. I replaced my bubble face charm and kept thinking about how these kids would be safe in a few hours and I would feel so much better. I pulled my wand out to light my area but a swarm of fish darted through and hit my hand. My wand floated out of my grasp and I scrambled to find it. I had enough light to tie Cho but I couldn't see to find my wand. I thrashed around and swam deeper. Since my wand had gold bands on it, the damned thing must have sunk to the very bottom of the Lake. I had no friends in the deep. My feet touched the slimy stone bottom of the Merpeople's home and I looked up. The sun must be out because there were faint sunbeams filtering through the water, dappling the ground I searched. I saw the Merpeople all coming out to investigate what I was doing. I raked my hands through the plants and fought the shudders that came from touching something clammy and slimy because my wand was more important. The longer I was down here, the colder I got and the more I just wanted to be back in my secret room. Curled up with Andi and Fred drinking my weight in something warm and never worrying about the bloody tournament ever again. My fingers brushed against something that felt like my wand but instead I pulled up a rib from what I hoped was an animal. I tossed it away with a squeak. The little sun I had was blotted out and I looked to see a swarm of Merpeople and Grindylows churning the water around me.

I felt a trident being pressed to my neck. "Leave this sacred place, witch."

"My wand." It came out burbled. "I need it." The mermaid who had dealt with me the entire time made a screech and two grindylows shot down and tangled themselves around my body, pining my arms to my side. I was taking so many ragged breaths that I had forgotten about my bubble head charm's time limit. It was deflated and I really needed my wand if I was going to get to the surface before I ran out of oxygen. "I swear I'll leave if I just have my wand." The mermaid's steely gaze held mine.

"You humans think since you have magic, you can invade everything anything else owns. First the centaurs, now us. Maybe we will keep the Ministry's pet and return her in pieces." I shook my head. Her speech may have been distorted by the water but I could hear the sincerity of her tone.

"No, I swear, I didn't mean to go somewhere I wasn't supposed to. I was just looking for my wand, it slipped out of my hand. I didn't even want to put my friends down here to begin with. I didn't know this was your sacred temple or whatever." The gritty edge of her calcified trident pressed against my throat again and I swallowed involuntarily.

"You are different, you're not pleading for your life like the other humans I've met. You have been very concerned about the still ones tied to the seaweed."

"They're my friends."

"They why are you the one putting them in danger like this?"

"That's a long story and I don't think I have enough oxygen for it. Let's just say that I had to pay back the Ministry and this is one of the ways I'm working off my wrongfully charged crime." I held the Mermaid's hard stare and she raised a webbed hand and screeched. A few of the merpeople peeled off of the swarm that was still circling me and they swam away soon to return with my wand. The Mermaid held out her hand and they placed the wand in it with great reverence. She admired it with much keener eyes than my own. My head was starting to spin and I stopped struggling against the grindylows' grasps. "Please, my wand, I need to get to the surface. I promise to never come back here unless my friends do not get saved by the champions later." My voice was quiet even to my own ears. For the first time I had been trapped here, the Mermaid's resolve faltered when she saw the hunch of my shoulders and the lack of air in my charm. She screeched at the grindylows and they swam away she pressed my wand into my hand and she tied it in place with a length of tarnished chain.

"Go, witch." I nodded and pointed my wand towards the heavens and shot up and out of the water and I flopped into the boat like a caught fish. Ludo started awake and I flipped to my side to choke out the water I had swallowed. Ludo flipped me to my back and I sighed as the sunlight hit my face. I pulled my legs into the boat and rubbed my eyes.

"Bloody Hell, what happened down there, Nora?" I shot him a venomous glare.

"I lost my wand and the creatures of the deep do not enjoy the company of strangers." I put my wand back into its harness and held onto the chain as I leaned up to put my jacket back on. My arms were covered with red painful circles from the grindylows.

"We need to get those checked out." The boat was already moving back towards the shore.

"No. There's nothing to treat them except time. I need a hot shower and food right now, Mr. Bagman." I closed my eyes and pulled the elastic out of my hair and ruffled it. My curls were already sticking to the back of my neck. "I'll be fine." I grabbed my boots and pants and stepped onto the mossy stones of the bank. Dumbledore and the other officials were talking while I tried to walk past.

"How did everything go, Black?" Karkorav called. I didn't turn around or slow my pace.

"Fine, everything went without a hitch." I whistled one sharp note and Andi appeared. She grabbed me by my jacket and we apparated into hallway outside of the common room. I stumbled through the portrait hole and waved my wand to bring me another outfit and my shower supplies. I grabbed the clothes out of the air and left. I decided to go to the prefects bathroom.

After washing half of the mud from the Black Lake out of my hair, I was ready to go eat. I looked in the mirror above one of the sinks and pulled up my shirt sleeve to looks at the angry red welts. These would be had to hide for a few days. I pulled one of my Molly Weasley chic jumpers on and set off to eat something before I needed to get ready for the actual task. Andi appeared and settled herself about my shoulders. Her body exuded warmth that helped sooth my muscles and mind as I walked to breakfast.


End file.
